附近上门

Air purification startup landed $58 million for its Series C round, the company announced Tuesday.

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The fresh cash will be used to invest in research and development and scale the business, Molekule co-founder Jaya Rao said in an interview with 附近上门 News.

While the Molekule air purifiers have only been on the market for a couple years, the company has essentially been in the works for two decades, according to Rao.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been working in some way shape or form on this company for more than 20 years,鈥� Rao said. 鈥淓ither academic research, or boots on the ground creating the product.鈥�

Most air purifiers on the market are really air filters, Rao said, because they catch particles. Molekule鈥檚 devices, on the other hand, use photo electrochemical oxidation to actually destroy pollutants.

The air purifiers have grown in popularity and developed somewhat of a following–although it鈥檚 also received less-than-favorable scores from reviewers like and .

Rao declined to share any revenue metrics, but did say the company has strong repeat customers and has seen a 3x increase in its year-over-year filter subscription revenue since the company started selling products.

Molekule currently sells an air purifier for $799 and an 鈥淎ir Mini鈥� for $399. was Molekule鈥檚 first step out of the direct-to-consumer space, besides a couple of collaborations, like with the and New York鈥檚 . But with the new funding, the company is 鈥渓ooking at how can we be more available to consumers in the channels that they鈥檙e most interested in,鈥� Rao said.

The new funding brings Molekule鈥檚 total funding to , according to 附近上门. Molekule raised its $10.1 million , led by , in July 2017. It raised its $25 million, which was led by , in November 2018.

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