Airly raised $2m in pre-seed funding from Giant Ventures and a range of European angel investors.

Airly, a Krakow, Poland and Palo Alto, USA-based operator of an air quality platform, announced the completion of a $2 million pre-seed funding round.

The money was raised from a range of investors led by Giant Ventures, and including contributions from Sir Richard Branson’s and Sir Ronald Cohen’s families; as well as from angel investors Martin Tajur, Sophia Bendz, Piotr Jakubowski, Konstantin von Unger.

The round was complemented by additional funding provided by the Poland’s National Center of Research & Development.

The money will be used to scale the company's air quality product.

Airly, founded in 2015 by CEO Wiktor Warchałowski, built sensors used for providing ultra-local, predictive air quality data and acting as a global warning system for pollution at street level and in real time. The system involves dense networks of sensors that measure particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10) and gaseous compounds (NO2, SO2, O3 and CO) and provides users live access to this data through a mobile app and online map.

The company aims to work with governments, companies and individuals to help them understand the air their communities breathe and has more than 10,000 data points in over 30 countries, with more than 400 customers.