Poppy is an indoor health company that provides instant and accurate air safety monitoring for any indoor space. Commercial properties and corporations use the company’s products to keep buildings sustainable and occupants healthy. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Poppy’s Co-Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Sam Molyneux to learn more about the company.
Sam Molyneux’s Background
Molyneux is a scientist by training. And Molyneux said:
“I grew up in medical biophysics and have been doing innovation work at the intersection of biotechnology, computing, and now aerosol science most of my career. In grad school, I got frustrated by the speed of science and created a company called Meta, one of the earliest AI companies. We were acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative several years later and have led AI and technology teams in Silicon Valley building products for scientists until we decided to start our second company Poppy.
Formation Of Poppy
How did the idea for Poppy come together? Molyneux shared:
“A few years after exiting our last company, Meta, to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, we learned an incredible fact. Nearly half of what everyone gets sick from each year is an upper respiratory illness (17 billion cases of sickness each year even before the pandemic!), and it’s largely caused by airborne viruses that we catch from each other indoors.
“So we reviewed all the latest research and worked with the world’s experts in bioaerosol science, infectious disease, and building system design. Everything we learned validated our hypothesis: this was a problem that, in the right hands, could be solved by bringing biotech to buildings rather than trying to discover a new drug or invent a medical device.”
“And then the pandemic hit. And we worked even faster to help stop outbreaks in frontline businesses and healthcare.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges are you trying to solve? Molyneux acknowledged:
“We’re making the invisible visible. There are four basic attributes of indoor air, two of which — temperature and humidity — have been possible to monitor for over 200 hundred years. The other two — air distribution and turnover — have never been possible to measure until now. Now tracer particles make the air visible.”
“The world was powerfully educated over the last three years: we generally don’t get sick outdoors, where there is practically infinite air distribution and turnover. At Poppy, we also learned by measuring more buildings than anyone ever has, most buildings are significantly over-ventilating, wasting energy in operating their HVAC system, impacting the environment.”
“So Poppy provides the data keeping buildings in the goldilocks zone between under- and over-ventilated, creating green and healthy buildings on any budget.”
ASHRAE Standard 241
What is the ASHRAE Standard 241 and why is it important? Molyneux explained:
“ASHRAE Standard 241 is a once-in-a-generation change for building codes, raising the bar on indoor air safety. It was finalized and published in July 2023 and defines new requirements for all building types and ages. Every building needs to measure and plan for a new mode of running, including single and multi-family homes, offices, schools, and healthcare facilities. The standard applies to new and existing buildings and major renovations and provides requirements for many aspects of air system design, installation, operation and maintenance.”
“Poppy’s tracer-based system is the lowest cost and fastest way to measure buildings against the new standard.”
BreatheScore Certify
What is BreatheScore Certify? Molyneux pointed out:
“BreatheScore Certify is a testing and certification program for all buildings. It provides property owners and operators a stamp of approval on how the building manages their indoor air. It’s the fastest and most cost-effective way to measure against Standard 241 and to find potential cost savings by revealing over-ventilated areas.”
“BreatheScore is possible due to the software, data, and sensors that we’ve developed and deployed in hundreds of buildings over the last three years, and is one of several offerings by Poppy.”
Why should customers use BreatheScore Certify?
Molyneux added:
“It’s incredibly fast, accurate, and cost-effective. Certification of a building typically takes less than a day and 20 minutes for a test covering up to 5,000 square feet. There’s nothing to be installed and no disruption to the business — everything can be done when the space is fully occupied. The digital solution is priced to fit the budget of any building by starting at $29 per month per zone. We spot-check several times over the course of the subscription, so facilities teams have peace of mind that the building’s ventilation is staying in the goldilocks zone all year round.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Poppy’s most significant milestones? Molyneux cited:
- In April 2021, we served our first customer, and from then through the pandemic conducted over 42,000 airborne COVID detection tests in buildings.
- In 2022, Poppy deployed its new tracer system for a customer in a very large performing arts center, and showed that it could track individual air particle movement across a football field of space, and even between floors.
- In 2022, Poppy was recognized as one of the Top 5 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, along with Ford and Samsung.
- In 2022, we 10Xed revenue and ran BreatheEasy, the world’s largest ventilation verification program (city-scale) in 180 locations, and uncovered how many buildings had serious overventilation and wasted energy costs.
- In spring/summer 2023, I was honored to contribute to the new landmark ASHRAE Standard 241, and to have tracer particle tracking recognized as a standard measurement technique.
Evolution Of Poppy’s Technology
How has Poppy evolved since launching? Molyneux noted:
“Our company culture is very much rooted in continuous learning and experimentation, which has led to breakthroughs and a lot of feedback from industry veterans like “Wow, I didn’t think that was possible!” While we’ve remained laser-focused on our vision of making the invisible visible—revealing indoor air—we’re constantly evolving the best tools to do so (machine learning algorithms, software, data, and hardware) and how to communicate the information to experts and non-experts (real-time data-driven 3D digital twins, online dashboards, building automation system integrations).”
Customer Success Stories
Who are some of your notable customers?
“Poppy technology is used in 750+ customer locations in the US, Canada, and Europe, including some of the world’s largest financial institutions, schools, entertainment venues, airports, factories, commercial spaces, superyachts, and even a royal palace.”
“On one end of the spectrum, Poppy helped a major investment bank validate that their $10M investment in HVAC upgrades on their midtown Manhattan trading floor actually worked, with detailed before and after professional scans. Those scans also revealed $50K/annual cost savings opportunities due to overventilation. On the other side of the country, Poppy continuously monitors early childhood education classes in Oakland, CA, and helps keep the students and teachers safe using $100 HEPA purifiers. This is also where we’re introducing wildfire smoke, cigarette smoke, and vaping alerts to the market.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Molyneux about funding, Molyneux revealed:
“Poppy is currently raising for growth — expanding our sales & marketing and focusing on commercial property owners in top North American cities, alongside our new international through-partner HVAC service provider offering.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is Poppy pursuing? Molyneux assessed:
“All buildings everywhere! There are 2 trillion sq ft of indoor space globally, split roughly equally between commercial vs. residential. To narrow it down to our current focus – the serviceable addressable market of US & Canadian commercial real estate represents a $6.3 billion opportunity.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Poppy from its competition? Molyneux affirmed:
“Poppy provides the world’s first and only digital indoor air tracing system, with a significant intellectual property moat across 18 patents, and the only automated, real-time way to verify against the new, incredibly wide-sweeping new building standard, ASHRAE Standard 241.”
“Our technology uses research-grade sensors to ensure accuracy, even in low ventilation or hybrid ventilation scenarios. With fully digital air particle measurements and analysis, our customers can optimize systems, measuring all natural and mechanical ventilation in real-time, validating energy savings and safety without assumptions.”
Goals For The Company
What are some of Poppy’s goals? Molyneux concluded:
“Ultimately, our vision is for every building in the world to be self-healing — automatically balancing indoor air for occupant health and comfort, with energy and impact on the climate, all powered by Poppy sensors and data.”
“ASHRAE Standard 241 was launched in July 2023, and over the next 12 months, we’re focusing on growing our footprint in 10 major North American cities, helping as many buildings as possible with Standard 241 compliance and saving money on their heating and cooling costs due to overventilation.”
“Our second goal is to grow our new direct-to-HVAC service providers offering, BreatheScore Kits, so buildings in every part of the world can be measured and validated against Standard 241 by local HVAC professionals.”
