Pollution season turns into peak season for clean-air startups
Delhi’s air quality slipped into the ‘severe’ zone and remained there for days after Diwali as firecracker fumes mixed with the cold winter lull – a situation that has led to soaring sales of purifiers and masks on Amazon and Flipkart every year.
Amazon reported a 5x increase in air purifiers across regions and a 20x increase in Delhi-NCR, with premium models increasing by over 150% on a yearly basis. Flipkart saw Delhi-NCR treatment plant demand increase 8x in early November; The fast trading arm recorded an increase of almost 12 times. Swing trading platforms also echoed this trend, Mint reported last week; Instamart saw a close to 10x increase in purifiers and N95 masks, mostly led by North India.
This increase in consumer demand is now reflected in specialized climate technology startups, many of which form narrow verticals in the broader clean air market.
Startups tap into niche categories
Among the brands leading this wave of demand is Qubo, supported by the Hero group. ₹8,000 to ₹20,000, average selling price roughly ₹10,000.
The company says it has already sold over 30,000 units this financial year and expects to close FY25 with around 50,000 units, driven by what it calls a “massive surge” post-Diwali. Auto purifiers, a niche segment rapidly gaining traction in NCR, currently move about 100 units per day or about 3,000 units per month.
Nitin Dua, co-founder of Qubo by Hero Electronix, said the company relies on filter replacement to consistently make money and nudges customers through automated alerts when filters need to be cleaned or replaced.
For Karban Envirotech, vertical diversification takes place at the product level. Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Karan Bansal said climate-comfort devices combine a fan, purifier and lighting in a single unit and this mix helps weather seasonal fluctuations. “Purifiers are sold in the winter; air flow and lighting come into play in the summer, so the product moves throughout the year.”
The company sells devices at these prices: ₹15,000 and ₹30,000, average order value ₹20,000. Recurring monetization comes from filter replacements, annual maintenance contracts and installation services. Demand increased after Diwali but Bansal refused to disclose the number of units.
Karban, which raised $1.07 million from Urban Company and Zerodha’s Rainmatter last year, now plans to raise additional funding to scale its R&D-heavy pipeline, Bansal said.
Wearable devices and deep tech players
At the other end of the spectrum is Atovio, a Gurugram-based clean air startup that is investing in air-purifying wearables even as the broader wearable device market remains anemic.
A wearable air purifier is a device that creates a personal clean air zone.
The company announced that the price of each will be around 18,000 since its launch in late 2024. ₹3,500. The business is almost entirely hardware-focused and has no recurring income, but demand has increased.
“The uptake after September has been huge… Last week’s numbers were about 50 times that of the first week of September,” said Anmay Shahlot, co-founder of Atovio.
Currently booting — supported by only one server ₹25 lakh Startup India Seed Fund grant — Atovio says it has deliberately avoided external capital: “We are trying to keep it bootstrapped for as long as possible,” he said.
San Francisco-based Praan represents a deeper tech play in the clean air space. The company started with filter-free, industrial-grade purification systems deployed in factories with much more challenging particle loads than in cities, including Tata Steel, Pidilite, Nestlé, Berger Paints and others.
This year, Praan has now gone to homes and offices. The change is notable: About 150 units were sold this month alone, matching all 144 sales last year, and nearly 1,000 devices were produced and shipped this year. The product is currently sold at an average price. ₹Planned to reduce to 60,000 ₹Angad Daryani, founder and CEO of Praan, said the company will reach 30,000 next year as it aims to raise more capital.
“In India, it is a hardware sale; the recurring thing is the maintenance of the device one to four times a year,” said Daryani, adding that Delhi-NCR customers are at the top end of this maintenance cycle. But overseas the model is reversed: “In the US, you don’t buy a device… it’s a service. You pay a monthly fee.”
Praan has its roots abroad because access to Indian venture capital was difficult. The company developed US support after Daryani “couldn’t raise money for 24 months” in India and “no one here would cut us a check”.
Funding gap continues
Despite the increase in demand, venture investments in climate technology remain weak. Founders claim that subscription-style revenues from filters and services give today’s hardware-focused climate response initiatives stronger repeatability than in previous cycles; but challenges remain.
“There are nearly 800 viable climate tech startups in India, but less than 3% have raised Series B or beyond, a serious scaling gap,” said Sumanta Biswas, deputy director of CUTS International, a policy research and advocacy group.
Large upfront capital, long regulatory deadlines and dependence on government adoption “keep a lot of venture capitalists cautious,” Biswas said. “Mitigation requires patient capital; adaptation offers short payback cycles and clear business models.”
As broader categories mature, Biswas expects sharper segmentation: “Entrepreneurs will move into micro segments – hyperlocal climate services, personal air technology, clean air solutions at the neighborhood level. Such verticals offer lean models, faster traction and clear ROI (return on investment).”
As pollution season turns into a predictable business cycle, climate tech’s near-term future is shaped by adaptation products that offer salable, short-term moneymaking rather than long-term prevention bets.
