Technology

Silicon Valley air purifier startup Molekule was born out of an idea Dr. Yogi Goswami had back in the &90s using photo-voltaic technology to kill air pollutants. His son, a young boy at the time, suffered from severe allergies and Dr. Goswami wanted to build something those like him could use in their home to clear the air. But the sleekly designed Molekule took a bit of a blow last fall when Wirecutter called it &the worst air purifier we&ve ever tested.&

Molekule has since told TechCrunch comparing its PECO technology to the more common HEPA air filter technology is like comparing apples to oranges. &Up until now, everything has been air filtration, not real air purification,& co-founder and CEO of the company Jaya Rao told TechCrunch.

To disprove the naysayers, Molekule sent off its tech for testing at the Berkeley Lab, which concluded no measurable amount of VOCor ozone were emitted; Molekule effectively removed harmful chemicals in the air, like toluene, limonene, formaldehyde, as well as ozone, and that &no secondary byproducts were observed when the air cleaner was operated in the presence of a challenge VOC mixture.&

Compare that to Wirecutterown assessment that, &on its auto setting, which is its medium setting, the Molekule reduced 0.3-micron particulates by (in the best case) only 26.4 percent over the course of half an hour. Compare that with the 87.6 percent reduction the Coway Mighty achieved on its medium setting.& TechCrunch reached out to Wirecutter and was told it still stands by its findings and does not recommend consumers purchase a Molekule.

It should be noted Consumer Reports also tested the Molekule device and it, too, did not recommend a purchase as the unit was not &proficient at catching larger airborne particles.& However, Molekule demonstrated to other news outlets at its own facilities that the photochemical reaction in its units did break down contaminants and kill mold spores.

&To test PECO technology you actually need really sophisticated equipment,& Rao said. &Boiling it down to really simple factors is not enough because air is made up of many tiny but toxic things. These are airborne chemicals nanometers in size, which Wirecutter admittedly did not test at all for.&

WirecutterTim Heffernan disputes Molekuleclaims of superiority in the category, however. &Now they are comparing apples to oranges,& he told TechCrunch. &The claims about destroying bacteria and viruses, for example, HEPA filters capture them and they capture them permanently.&

So howa consumer to know whatright? First, take into account Molekule commissioned the Berkeley Lab for their independent testing and that Wirecutter and Consumer reports ran their own independent testing. However, it might boil down to understanding the premise of the technology. HEPA filters came out of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, when scientists needed to develop a filter suitable for removing radioactive materials from the air. It works by capturing and filtering out harmful particles, viruses and mold. However, PECO, the technology in a Molekule unit, uses the science of light to kill mold and bacteria and break down harmful particulates in the air.

Regardless of whether you want an air purifier that captures particulates or breaks them down, Molekule has continued to move forward. The company has since launched a mini unit meant for smaller rooms and started to grow business verticals outside of the direct-to-consumer model, forging partnerships with hotels and hospitals.

It also just announced a raise of $58 million in Series C funding, bringing just over $91 million to its coffers. Rao tells TechCrunch the raise was unexpected, but came out of chats with Samantha Wang from RPS Ventures, which led the round.

&We feel confident in MolekulePECO technology, and have taken an extensive look at the science behind it. It is not only backed by decades of academic research, it has also gone through the peer-reviewed process numerous times, and has been tested and validated by third-party scientists and laboratories across the country,& Wang told TechCrunch.

Other participation in the round included FounderCircle Capital and Inventec Appliances Corp (IAC). Existing investors Foundry Group, Crosslink Capital, Uncork Capital and TransLink Capital also participated in the financing.

Molekule also tells TechCrunch it has seen a healthy growth trajectory in the past year, despite the negative press. According to the company, Molekule has seen a 3x increase in year over year filter subscription revenue since launch, and its repeat customer growth sits at about 200%.

Ita well-designed, though pricier air purification machine with an interesting future in the commercial space, particularly in hospitals, schools, commercial manufacturing and hotels, as Wang points out.

As long as the tech truly makes the air better.

As promised, Fujifilm unveiled its latest instant camera alongside the mirrorless powerhouse that is the Fujifilm X-T4.

The Instax Mini 11 looks pretty much like its predecessor, the very popular Instax Mini 9, but adds a few tweaks and comes in five fun colors – Blush Pink, Sky Blue, Charcoal Gray, Ice White and Lilac Purple.

Its physical tweaks

The launch industry is undergoing a number of major changes, among them the shift from traditional manufacturing to 3D printing — which Relativity Space is spearheading. The company plans to build 95% of its rocket using the worldbiggest 3D printers, and could launch as early as next year. Co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis will be on hand at TC Sessions: Space in Los Angeles on June 25 to talk all about it.

Relativity has been on our radar for a couple of years now, and to be honest we were all a bit skeptical when the proposition of 3D-printing a rocket was revealed. After all, additive manufacturing is known for its speed, not the strength or detail of its products. But our recent visit to the companybustling headquarters near LAX was an eye-opening one.

The challenges of this approach to rocketry are substantial, but the team has gone into it with their eyes open, and the results are hard to argue with. Less mass, more strength, faster turnaround — and any drawbacks have been quantified and mitigated over countless tests and analyses.

Although the resulting components are in a way mechanically simpler than hand-assembled alternatives, the process of creating them is by no means simple itself. Ellis has been there for everything from the first wonky prints during their Y Combinator days to the latest high-precision, large-format ones going through live testing. He&ll be onstage at TC Sessions: Space on June 25, sharing insights on the startup journey, technical details and plans for the companyfuture.

You can get early-bird tickets right now, and save $150 before prices go up on May 22 — and you can even bring a fifth person for free if you bring a group of four from your company. Special discounts for current members of the government/military/nonprofit and students are also available directly on the website. And if you are an early-stage space startup looking to get exposure to decision makers, you can even exhibit for the day for just $2,000.

This event will also feature a space startup pitch-off featuring five early-stage founders selected by TechCrunch editors. Applications open today; apply here.

Is your company interested in partnering at TC Sessions: Space 2020? Click here to talk with us about available opportunities.

The difference between two top Dell Inspiron 13 5000 models is currently a mere $20 dollars. We're not sure whether it's a genuine mistake or a strategic move on the part of Dell, but it's something we certainly think is worth highlighting.

The more expensive Inspiron 13 5391 comes with a Core i5, 8GB and 256GB for just under $550 (roughly £420).

Realme 6 and Realme 6 Pro, along with the Realme band, are set to launch in India on March 5. Realme CEO Madhav Sheth took to twitter and revealed the launch information of the Realme 6 series.

Earlier this week, during the launch of the Realme X50 Pro 5G, the company also revealed that it would be announcing the Realme band fitness tracker on

After weeks of leaks and rumors the Fujifilm X-T4 has finally been officially announced – and the mirrorless all-rounder is very much theSony A6600 and Panasonic GH5 rival we expected it to be.

Perhaps just as interesting for anyone eyeing up a new mirrorless camera, though, is the news that the X-T4 won't be replacing its predecessor, theFujifilm