Borderless Capital, a Miami venture capital firm that focuses on blockchain investments, closed a $10 million fund dedicated to using blockchain to improve air quality monitoring.
The company's new Planets.Fund will invest in PlanetWatch, the first decentralized indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring network on the Algorand blockchain. The capital will enable the fund to deploy a network of air quality sensors to people across the world, who will install sensors outside of their homes to keep track of air pollution levels.
The data will then be validated, filtered and displayed on the internet through a mobile app and transcribed onto the Algorand blockchain to create a repository of air quality information accessible to all participants.
"We acknowledge that air pollution is one of the world's most serious public health threats, with nine out of 10 people worldwide living in places where pollutants exceed the guideline limits of the World Health Organization," said Borderless Capital Managing Partner and CEO David Garcia. "[The Planets.Fund] ... will help us mitigate the problem with reliable data and at the same time create value for our investors, for the PlanetWatch network and primarily for the planet Earth."
Sensor owners receive Planet cryptocurrency tokens in exchange for contributing air quality data to the repository.
The Algorand blockchain reports it is the only carbon-negative blockchain on the market. A blockchain is a database of digital transactions stored across a network of computers, an energy intensive process. Borderless Capital reports the Algorand network requires far less computational power and electricity compared to other blockchains, minimizing its environmental impact. Algorand has also partnered with ClimateTrade, an organization that helps companies meet their sustainability goals, to offset its carbon footprint.
Borderless Capital is anchoring its Planets.Fund with a $1 million investment, according to a news release. Other investors include global investment firm SkyBridge Capital and individuals like Algorand Foundation CEO Steve Kokinos and BitPay co-founder Sonny Singh.
PlanetWatch was founded in 2020 as a spinoff of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Its PlanetWatchers network currently has over 20,000 air sensors spread across the world.
"With PlanetWatch, people are making their own city smart," said CEO Claudio Parrinello. "We are currently building the largest air quality monitoring network in the world, so fund resources will be instrumental for speeding up global deployment and engagement."
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