Sleek smoke alarm chirps its way to Dubai (and funding)

An elderly woman using a gas stove to heat her home right after Hurricane Katrina sounds like a recipe for disaster. But in the aftermath of the 2005 disaster, Mark Belinsky’s grandmother was – along with thousands of others – in this very predicament. Wouldn’t it be great, he thought at the time, if there were a smoke alarm that also doubles as a carbon monoxide detector that could send alerts to your smartphone, or landline?

So the idea for the Smart Air Monitor was born. The smoke detector, which also functions as a carbon monoxide sensor and air-quality monitor, is the first product for Belinsky and his co-founder Justin Alvey. While based in San Francisco, the team now has its gaze firmly set on the UAE market. And they’re off to a strong start: having won Dubai’s Smart Living City ‘Best Startup Prize’ this year, the company Birdi now has an extra $30,000 USD to add to their seed funding.

For Belinsky, Birdi’s mandate is global. Looking further afield provides the chance for more opportunities, and especially in economies that present the kind of air they want to work with: polluted.

Packaged within a sleek white and circular mold, not dissimilar from the smoke alarms we are used to seeing, the device communicates with a user’s mobile device – either Android or iOS – to keep them up to date with various air related activities in the home. So, rather than an ear piercing alarm going off when you’ve let something overheat on the stove, a message is sent to the phone where a push notification lets you make the next move – alert fire department or simply ignore said smoke. The same goes for carbon monoxide levels and other particular air pollutants the user wishes to monitor.

Original article by Lucy Knight

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Sleek smoke alarm chirps its way to Dubai (and funding)