Startup Stories: Featuring Origen Air
This week we are excited to be featuring Susan Blanchet, Founder and CEO of Origen Air.
Origen Air is a clean-tech company that creates smart, living air purifiers. They have invented an IoT connected, zero-waste, plant-based commercial air purifier to remove microscopic pollutants, bacteria, and viruses from indoor air spaces.
We first met Susan in June 2020 when she attended our Women’s Pitch Event, and then she joined us again as a pitcher in October 2020 at our Virtual Pitch Canada.
In May 2021, Susan won Audience Favourite at our BC Startup Showcase, delivered as part of Discovery Foundation’s Regional Investor Readiness Program.
Without further ado, we are honoured to introduce you to Susan.
Hello Susan! I know you’ve pitched with us a few times now, to start off, what has your pitch experience been like?
My experience pitching at Volition events has been great! I always get great feedback and meet interesting companies. We just launched our seed round so it’s really good publicity as well.
The first time I pitched at a Volition event it was at the beginning of my entrepreneurial career, I was a lawyer for 15 years before that. That first experience was good but definitely I could see a lot of room for improvement.
The second time I actually lost my pitch right before I went on, so that was the perfect experience in what not to do when pitching. The third and last one was absolutely incredible, I felt it was as seamless as you can get. We won the Audience Favourite and I got really good feedback from the judges.
We’re glad to hear that it has been a valuable experience for you with lots of lessons learned! Aside from winning Audience Favourite, what are some recent company highlights that we can share and what are your next steps?
A ton of things happened, we’ve been moving quickly!
Because of the pandemic our MVP got pushed back, but we reacted to the setbacks from COVID-19 by implementing strategic goals and increasing resiliency through tapping into human and funding resources.
We hired eleven staff, secured a $94,000 Mitacs (COVID-19 relief) funded project, and raised $300,000 in non-dilutive funding, allowing us to retain founder(s) ownership of the majority of the company (92.5%).
We were working with the University of Victoria under the Mitacs grant, but because of the many regulations, we decided to go ahead with prototype development in-office.
We opened a Series Seed $1M round in July and we are launching six pilots in August.
Right now we’re also trying to tie up the last of our 50 commercial units that should be ready for commercial launch in the beginning of November.
We’re also part of the US Green Building Council Los Angeles’ Net Zero Accelerator (USGBC-LA) and our plan is to be in Los Angeles in September for B2B meetings on pilots to be launched in the new year in Los Angeles.
We’re an air quality company so we’re moving as quickly as possible to different areas that have poor air quality. We developed relationships in our target market, preparing to expand to the United States and then to Southeast Asian Markets (where 98 of the world’s 100 most polluted cities are located) ahead of schedule.
I set high standards for the future of Origen Air, and am actively working towards B-Corp certification. Our long-term vision is to revolutionize the HVAC-industry and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings around the world contributing to our Paris Accord Climate Action Goals.
WOW! Congratulations, Susan, those are all incredible accomplishments and milestones for you and your team at Origen Air. Throughout all of this, what has been your greatest challenge as an entrepreneur?
I think one of the challenges of getting into business for me has been walking into this arena and reading about all these different funding opportunities, like federal grants supporting women founders etc, but then getting denied for the majority of them once I applied.
I found that, as a female founder, the walk is not following the talk yet.
I think there should be 50% funding for female-led companies. I keep hearing the government, and everyone who’s jumping on the diversity and inclusion bandwagon, asking “how do we get more women in tech?”, and to me the answer is so clear: we don’t need more education, we need financing. I find that programs want to give women education while they give men money.
So I think if we want more women in tech, we should not be facing statistics that are 98% against us.
So much, yes! This has been on our mind as well, and I really appreciate you bringing this up today. So, what is one piece of advice you would give to someone just beginning their startup journey?
My advice to others beginning their startup journey is to jump from their day job that’s not fulfilling their life’s purpose and fully immerse themselves to follow their passion.
I have a degree in environmental studies, I went into environmental law, and in the beginning I was working on cases I was really passionate about. I hesitated about leaving my job for at least 3 years because I was scared.
I had a very cushy job with benefits and pensions, but as much as I loved my legal career for the first 10 years, at the end I was not content because I didn’t feel I was having the impact that I wanted to have.
So yes, my advice is go for it, don’t hesitate.
Focus on sales and get to market as fast as possible. There will be times you will be tested in this startup world, if you are not completely passionate, with full belief in your company, then it will be difficult to stay motivated. Perseverance, resilience, and a positive attitude is key.
Great tips! Our Co-founder, Melanie, knows that struggle as well, as she worked in the government for 10 years, and knew it was not the place for her for at least half of that. Leaving is so difficult, especially without a safety net or knowledge that funding is available once you do – kudos for taking the leap.
As you may know, we define Volition as ‘the will to do what you want and to get it done’. What is your volition?
My volition is to remove toxins from the environment and bring nature back indoors.
Toxins that cause cancer and other diseases have always been something I’ve been very passionate about. Rachel Carson, who wrote Silent spring, is my hero.
My father had health problems, he passed away six years ago, and although they haven’t determined the cause, many sources say it was from exposure to environmental toxins. I also have an autoimmune disorder, once again, caused by exposure to toxins.
This is my passion and I kind of walked in the door with this.
This is such a great answer! Silent Spring is a classic – do you have any other recommended books, role models, or resources or those who want to learn more about environmental toxins?
For more recent role models and books specific to indoor air quality, I recommend Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity by John D. Macomber and Joseph G. Allen.
This book should be essential reading for all who commission, design, manage, and use buildings—indeed anyone who is interested in a healthy environment.
Thank you for these! So–what is your ask today? How can the Volition community support your vision?
We are asking for assistance in securing investors for our Seed round.
We are also searching for opportunities for media features and collaborative blog postings to buttress our investment round and increase sales as we commercialize in Q3.
Amazing–we have included your details below for readers to connect. Is there anything else that you would like to share before we sign off?
I would highly recommend Volition, and I have recommended it, to all the entrepreneurs that I’ve been working with, especially the women entrepreneurs. Not only do you get the chance to pitch to a group of peers that will support you and give you constructive criticism in a kind way, but you also get to connect with attendees and potential investors.
I’ve been lucky enough, through the support of Volition, to have met an investor who knows the ins-and outs of the investment world to ask those questions that I wanted to ask and I have more 1-on-1 sessions booked with Volition advisors–extremely intelligent people who can advise you specifically on the topic you need to learn more about and that’s really important for entrepreneurs.
I would recommend it to everyone starting out, or two years in, it’s always helpful.
Thank you! We appreciate your support. So, how can people best connect with you?
Email: susan@origenair.com
Website: https://www.origenair.com/
