Plair has developed award-winning Rapid-E, a new, easy way to count allergens – automatically, more rapidly and precisely than ever before.

Over 150 million EU citizens suffer from hay fever and asthma, which cost to healthcare up to CHF 50bn each year. The prevalence to pollen-induced respiratory allergy allergic reaction constantly increases. Estimated by the European Federation of Asthma and Allergy Associations (EFA), by 2025 more than 50% of all Europeans will suffer from allergy, with no age, social or geographical distinction.
Current allergen detection in the air (pollen & fungal spore) requires manual analysis under a microscope, which means data are only delivered in 2 to 8 days. For this reason, there are poor precision of pollen forecast, no true real-time alert for allergic patients, high risk of hospitalization for asthmatic patients inducing high medical costs.
Based on proprietary, patented laser-sensing technology from research and development at the University of Geneva, Rapid-E detects and counts numerous airborne particles simultaneously and rapidly – pollen, fungal spores, air pollution, and even bacteria. It offers revolutionary performance, high sensitivity, and a broad range of detection, opening many applications in environmental monitoring. Precise information provided by Plair can help cities more quickly determine and manage the sources of pollution through the monitoring of air quality, and even address environmental problems related to agriculture.
Plair has installed successfully multiple stations of Rapid-E connected detectors in Switzerland, but also in some other European countries. The next step for the startup will be to increase the number of deployed stations.