Greenairy is building smart plant towers to clean the air in your office; plus, Robot data startup Mecka AI nabs $60M from Sequoia

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1:13That's Framer.com slash TC Startups. Rules and restrictions may apply. How clean is the air in your workplace? That's the question Tanvi Tambray and Lakshah Sarov began investigating when they were engineering students who worked in their university makerspace. In fact, Tambray said via email that while working in the space, they were unknowingly exposed to toxic fumes from laser cutters, 3D printers, and soldering irons. But they didn't realize it until Tambray's best friend fainted and had to go to the hospital. After that, Tom Bray said, We began investigating indoor air pollution and realized it was an invisible but dangerous health risk, especially in schools, offices, hotels, salons, and any commercial buildings where air conditioning prevents windows from being open.

2:03Those issues persist even when a building is equipped with air purifiers, as their makerspace was. The problem, according to Seraf, is that although purifiers are good at cleaning out particulate matter, like dust and pollen, they are less effective at removing toxic gases such as carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and benzene, many of which are classified as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, chemicals that evaporate easily into the air. Tom Bray said that VOCs are linked to chronic disease and sick building syndrome, a condition in which occupants experience health effects and discomfort after spending time in a building, even though no specific cause or illness has been identified.

2:46She also pointed to Harvard Research, showing that improving indoor air quality improved cognitive function and productivity as well. That's why the pair is targeting toxic gases in the workplace with their startup GreenAri, which will be part of startup Battlefield 200 at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt. GreenAri's approach centers on building plant towers that are supposed to draw in air, break down toxic gases, and then release the purified air. As Seroff put it, a plant in a pot cleans air slowly, but when we change the conditions around the plant, it cleans air much faster and better than these conventional methods.

3:26Seroff also said that while some air purifier filters can remove a narrow range of VOCs, those filters need to be changed frequently to be effective. In contrast, plants are a natural solution. No harmful byproducts are formed, and no filter replacement is required. Green Airy has already conducted short-term pilots at locations around Singapore. Sarov said that in the startup's own testing using Reset-certified air monitors, it compared three offices, one with Green Airy plant towers, one that had a medical-grade ionizer, which is a device that uses an electrical charge to make dust and other particles clump together and fall out of the air, and a third with a HEPA air purifier that traps very small particles.

4:13She said, Our tower had the lowest VOC levels and removed VOCs the fastest. The office staff also grew fond of the natural, fresh aroma of the tower and the natural vibe at broad. Tombray added that they saw an immediate improvement within regular office hours, with a 50 % reduction in both the daily VOC average and peak levels. She said the results improved even more as the plants and microbes mature and the gases are prevented from accumulating. Granary has also had its results validated by a German testing and certification firm. Those results will be available soon. The payer plans to begin large-scale manufacturing after the results are certified.

4:58The startup's founders are currently based on opposite sides of the world, with Serof in Berkeley, California, and Tombray in Singapore. It's an arrangement that Serof said works well at this stage, allowing one founder to focus on testing in Singapore while the other can fundraise in the Bay Area. Serof said if things go to plan, both of us will be in Singapore by the first half of 2027. That's when we expect to launch our first mass-produced towers and install them for our first customers in Singapore.

5:29Mecca AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid robots and other kinds of robots, announced it has raised a$60 million Series B round led by Sequoia, with participation from NVIDIA, Microsoft's venture fund M12, and others. TechCrunch had previously reported that the startup was nearing a new funding round at a$500 million valuation, Founded back in 2024, the startup intends to do for robotics what Scale AI, Mercore, Surge, and other data labeling companies have done for LLMs. Those companies supply the human-generated data these systems learn from. Mecca pays people to record themselves doing everyday tasks, like making coffee or fixing cars, while wearing body sensors and using smartphones.

6:21Other startups that collect real-world data for robot training include XDOF, which was in talks to raise a Series B round at a$1.2 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch's previous reporting. Human data platforms that began with LLMs are also expanding into robotics, such as Scale AI and Micro One. That's all for now. For the latest in startup tech news, go to TechCrunch.com.

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