iRobot acquires air purification company Aeris Cleantech

With the acquisition of Aeris Cleantech, iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) will support the Swiss startup in accelerating the growth of their aeris brand while working towards becoming one of the largest global players in the USD5 billion air cleaning market. “We are excited about the growth potential of Aeris’ products, especially as the pandemic has heightened consumer awareness of the value of a cleaner, healthier home. We’re also excited about the potential to leverage our Genius Home Intelligence platform and existing ecosystem of home robots to bring the iRobot experience to air cleaning”, said Colin Angle, Chairman and CEO von iRobot.

The two founders and iRobot see great potential to accelerate consumer adoption of the Aeris aair brand of premium air purifiers by leveraging iRobot's extensive marketing capabilities, a global network of retail partners and distributors and installed base of connected customers around the world. Once Aeris is fully integrated into the company's brand and innovation strategy, iRobot plans to add new features to Aeris' product offerings and integrate them into their existing ecosystem of connected home robots. Going forward, iRobot will leverage its Genius™ Home Intelligence platform to provide consumers with more personalized and intuitive ways to clean the air in their homes, maintain their floors and create healthier environments.

Aeris founders Pierre Bi, CEO, and Constantin Overlack, COO, will join iRobot to lead the air purification product division, including engineering, product management and design. Aeris currently employs more than 30 people, all of whom will be acquired by iRobot. The financial terms of the transaction remain undisclosed.

Founded in 2015, the Zug based Aeris Cleantec develops and markets a line of high-quality, high-performance air purifiers for consumers worldwide. With HEPA filtration, advanced technology, intelligence and sophisticated design, Aeris air purifiers are engineered to quietly remove allergens, bacteria, smoke, mould and odours to improve overall air quality. With the Aeris mobile app, users can activate their air purifiers, control fan speed, compare indoor and outdoor air quality, and increasingly use other smart technologies to train the device to meet their individual needs.

In addition to its residential offerings, Aeris also offers air purification products used by hospitals, medical and dental offices, and other small businesses that want HEPA H14 filter material to capture 99.995% of airborne pollutants at 0.1 microns.

China’s smog sparked the idea
The idea to establish Aeris came after the founders 6-months visit to Beijing between their bachelor’s and master’s studies in 2013. The city’s constantly triggered coughing impulses and sore throats for both of them. At the end of 2014, when Pierre had graduated from MIT, and Constantin from ETH Zurich, the two tinkerers plunged into the ‘aeris’ adventure, resulting in the launch of their first product in Asia in 2017. Since then, the startup has developed other devices for a wide range of applications, launched the devices for professional and home use via direct online sales and distributors.

Since 2019 sales have been growing rapidly as the company expanded in the US and Europe. The rapid development and precise engineering in the devices made its presence felt in the market, which is why iRobot contacted the founders earlier this year and eventually acquired Aeris as of today.

(RAN)