Funding will be used to meet the large increase in demand for healthy building solutions, accelerate growth through increased hiring, and development of innovative new products and services.
15 September 2020, Singapore – Singapore-based leading global environmental health platform, uHoo has seen growing interest from investors with an oversubscribed financing round closed last month. The round was led by Wavemaker Partners, with Enterprise Singapore and existing investors all following their initial investment, alongside new investors from the tech and real estate sectors. This resulted in a funding round oversubscribed by 50%.
uHoo was founded in 2014 and has been growing rapidly since, tackling a US$180Bn global air quality market. The Company’s revenue is exceeding original 2020 plans due to COVID-19 and the increased focus on health and wellbeing. uHoo has seen an almost fivefold increase in units deployed in last twelve months driven by strong “healthy home” and “healthy building” demand by governments, schools, hospitals, hotels, malls, kitchens, and offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
uHoo monitors nine air quality parameters and provides data, alerts, insights, and recommendations via the uHoo mobile app. In June 2020, uHoo launched the world’s first Virus Index (patent-pending) – providing a real time view on COVID-19 survivability and airborne transmission risk. Today, uHoo is used by tens of thousands of consumers, enterprises, and government clients in over 40 countries.
“Air quality, health, and wellbeing have become key concerns for many, especially as we spend more time indoors and gradually return to our workplaces and schools. This is evidenced by the many blue-chip brands and government clients globally that uHoo has secured in 2020. I am excited to be working with Dustin and uHoo team, as they accelerate growth in this $180B air health and healthy buildings market,” says Steve Melhuish, Venture Partner at Wavemaker Partners and Co-Founder of PropertyGuru Group.
Steve had invested personally in this round, leading an Angel Central syndicate. He also joins uHoo’s Board of Directors as uHoo grows into a world-leading environmental health platform.
uHoo is expanding its engineering and sales teams as part of its aggressive strategy to meet the increase in demand for healthy buildings.
Growth in Demand Spurred by COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for quality air not only for living spaces, but also for office buildings, schools, malls, hotels, and restaurants that are striving to open and resume normal operations. With numerous medical research studies showing the short and long-term health effects of poor indoor air quality, building owners and property managers are recognizing how critical it is not only to provide energy-efficient but also healthy, safe, and comfortable spaces that will give occupants peace of mind as they go about their business.
“Health and safety have been neglected by majority of employers, landlords and building owners for the longest time. The COVID-19 pandemic has put this in the spotlight and accelerated the movement towards healthy workplaces and healthy buildings. Healthy workplaces and healthy buildings are no longer just empty buzzwords, it is the bare minimum required of employers and landlords.” says Dustin Jefferson S. Onghanseng, Co-founder and CEO of uHoo.
More commercial property owners are turning to uHoo for indoor air quality (IAQ) solutions that will help them reduce rental churn, protect lease prices, and increase confidence and trust of tenants and occupants with safer environments. Over the last few months uHoo has grown its customer base across different vertical industries worldwide providing solutions to hundreds of commercial and government clients to enable healthy schools, healthy offices, healthy hospitals, healthy restaurants, healthy transport hubs and healthy communities globally. This includes data insights, dashboards, apps, alerts, and integrations with building management systems (BMS). Some recent clients include Capitaland, CDL, GIC, Gammon Construction, Schiphol Airport, HK Baptist University, and the governments of Holland, the USA, and Australia, among others. This growth opportunity is also bolstered by its unique technology that provides real-time assessment on the risk of viruses surviving in the home or workspace, the “uHoo Virus Index.”
uHoo Virus Index Provides Relevant Real-time Data for Reducing Risk of Viruses
The “uHoo Virus Index” is a patent-pending technology that uses the power of air quality data to help customers know how to reduce COVID-19 risk in the home or workplace and optimize air quality for better health. Using an analysis of five air factors which include Temperature, Relative Humidity, PM2.5, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide, the “uHoo Virus Index” can let a user know the survival risk and airborne transmission risk of COVID-19, and how to address it when there is higher risk.
uHoo recently published a white paper consolidating research from various governments, universities and international medical, and environmental journals explaining the link between air quality and COVID-19 death rates as well as explaining in detail how the “uHoo Virus Index” works. The “Using Indoor Air Quality Data to Create the uHoo Virus Index” white paper can be found here.
“We are delighted to have the continued trust and support of our existing investors and to have on board new investors that believe in our vision of clean air for all. They join our mission to help reduce deaths and improve lives and well-being globally through proper air quality management,” says Dustin.
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About uHoo
uHoo is the leading global air health company. It is a Singapore home grown start-up backed by Wavemaker Partners and Enterprise SG. The Company was founded by Dustin Jefferson S. Onghanseng and Brian Lin. Both have respiratory conditions and wanted to improve the environmental conditions in which people live, work, and play so sickness and disease can be prevented, and health improved.
The Company is tackling a large US$180Bn air quality market, which is expected to grow rapidly due to increased health and safety concerns globally. uHoo continues to grow rapidly and has seen an almost fivefold increase in units deployed in last twelve months driven by strong “healthy building” demand by governments, schools, hospitals, hotels, malls, kitchens, offices and families in North America, Europe and Asia particularly.
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About Wavemaker Partners
Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia’s go-to early-stage VC for enterprise and deep tech. 116 out of the 136 (85%) portfolio companies the firm has invested in since 2012 target enterprises, and 32% are in deep technology & artificial intelligence. Their portfolio includes startups in software, AI, and cybersecurity as well as precision agriculture, cleantech, additive manufacturing and laser communications. Recent exits include TradeGecko’s acquisition by Intuit, Moka’s and Coins.ph’s acquisitions by Gojek, Red Dot Payment by PayU/Naspers and Wavecell by 8×8.
