Aclima

Cover Block

PUBLIC

Attribute	Value
Name	Aclima
Tagline	A hardware + software platform for high-resolution mapping and analysis of air pollution and greenhouse gases.
Headquarters	San Francisco, United States
Founded	2007
Stage	Growth / Late Stage
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry	Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology	Hardware
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (3+)
Funding Label	$50M+ (total disclosed ~$74,800,000)

Links

PUBLIC

• Website: https://aclima.earth
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aclima-inc-

PUBLIC Aclima has built a hardware and software platform to map air pollution and greenhouse gases at a block-by-block resolution, a capability that positions it for the growing demand for hyperlocal environmental data from governments and corporations. Founded in 2007 as a public benefit corporation, the company combines roving and stationary sensor networks with enterprise analytics software, aiming to provide a more granular and actionable view of emissions than traditional monitoring stations can offer [Climatebase, retrieved 2024] [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. Its founding team includes CEO Davida Herzl, whose background includes a law degree, alongside environmental philanthropist Wendy Schmidt and technical inventors central to the sensor technology [UC Berkeley, retrieved 2024]. The company has raised a total of $74.8 million in disclosed capital, with a $13 million general corporate purpose round closed in September 2024 [PitchBook, retrieved 2024]. Key validation comes from a long-running technical collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a notable, though now historical, partnership where its sensors were deployed on Google Street View cars [EPA, Jun 2015] [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. Over the next 12-18 months, the primary question is whether Aclima can translate its technical credibility and public-sector projects into a repeatable, scaled commercial motion with utilities and large enterprises, moving beyond pilot deployments to sustained revenue growth. Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Core company facts and funding totals confirmed by multiple independent sources (PitchBook, Crunchbase, UC Berkeley).

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Classification
Stage	Growth / Late Stage
Business Model	Hardware + Software
Industry / Vertical	Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology Type	Hardware
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (3+)
Funding	$50M+ (total disclosed ~$74.8M)

Company Overview

PUBLIC

Aclima, Inc. was founded in 2007 and operates as a San Francisco-based Public Benefit Corporation, a legal structure that codifies its commitment to environmental and social goals alongside profit [Climatebase, retrieved 2024]. The company's founding story centers on a vision to move beyond sparse, stationary air monitoring stations by deploying mobile sensor networks to create hyperlocal maps of pollution, a concept that was validated through early collaborations with research institutions and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [EPA, June 2015].

Key technical milestones trace back to this foundational research phase. The company's initial public profile grew from a 2015 partnership with the EPA to test mobile sensing platforms for neighborhood-scale air quality assessment [EPA, June 2015]. This was followed by a high-profile, multi-year collaboration with Google, where Aclima sensors were integrated into Google Street View cars to map air pollution in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Hamburg, Germany, beginning around 2015 and continuing through at least 2022 [Aclima, retrieved 2024] [Google Earth Outreach, retrieved 2026].

Financing milestones reflect a steady, venture-scale build. Aclima closed a $40 million Series B round in November 2020, led by Clearvision Ventures [Crunchbase, retrieved 2026]. More recently, in September 2024, the company completed a $13 million General Corporate Purpose financing, bringing its total disclosed capital raised to approximately $74.8 million [PitchBook, retrieved 2024]. The company now reports having employees across four continents [LeadIQ, retrieved 2026].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Founding date, legal status, and key milestones confirmed by company sources, EPA documentation, and multiple financial databases.

Product and Technology

MIXED Aclima’s product is a hardware and software platform designed to map air pollution and greenhouse gases at a block-by-block resolution, a level of detail the company positions as a core differentiator from traditional, sparse monitoring networks [Climatebase, retrieved 2024]. The system combines a network of proprietary environmental sensors, deployed both on stationary poles and roving vehicles, with a cloud-based analytics engine. This combination allows the platform to measure a broad set of pollutants, including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, and methane, and generate standardized, hyperlocal maps [Aclima, retrieved 2024].

The enterprise software back-end processes billions of measurements to provide what the company calls “source-level resolution” for emissions intelligence [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. Publicly described use cases include overlaying this hyperlocal air quality data with community vulnerability factors via a tool named the Community Impact and Investment Index, enabling customers to analyze environmental justice implications [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. Aclima’s technology stack is inferred from job postings and partnerships to include embedded systems engineering for sensor hardware, data pipeline management likely on Google Cloud Platform, and geospatial analytics software [Google Cloud, retrieved 2024]. The company’s most visible technical partnership was with Google, where its sensors were integrated into Street View cars to map air quality in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Hamburg as part of Project Air View [Aclima, retrieved 2026].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are confirmed by company sources and third-party profiles; technical stack details are partially inferred from partnerships and hiring needs.

Market Research

PUBLIC The market for hyperlocal environmental intelligence is being reshaped by a convergence of regulatory pressure, corporate ESG mandates, and a growing public health focus on air pollution, creating a new class of data-as-infrastructure customers.

Third-party market sizing specific to Aclima's exact offering is not publicly available. However, analogous reports on the broader environmental monitoring and climate tech sectors provide a directional view. The global air quality monitoring market was valued at approximately $4.9 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $8.5 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual rate of 5.7% [Allied Market Research, 2023]. The climate tech market, which includes emissions monitoring solutions, saw global venture capital investment of over $70 billion in 2022 [PwC, 2023]. These figures suggest a substantial and expanding addressable market for data services that quantify environmental impact.

Demand is driven by several tailwinds. Regulatory mandates, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) tightened National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) announced in February 2024, create a direct need for more granular compliance data [EPA, 2024]. Corporate net-zero pledges and Scope 3 emissions reporting requirements under frameworks like the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules are pushing large enterprises to seek better measurement of their environmental footprint [SEC, 2022]. Public health concerns, amplified by events like wildfire smoke and urban pollution, are also increasing demand from municipal governments and community groups for actionable, localized air quality information.

Key adjacent markets include traditional environmental consulting, which relies on modeling and sparse monitoring stations, and the broader ESG software and data analytics sector. Aclima's hardware-enabled, hyperlocal data collection represents a potential substitute for these less precise methods. The regulatory landscape itself is a primary macro force, with policies like California's AB 617 mandating community-level air monitoring in disadvantaged areas, directly creating a customer base for block-by-block data [California Air Resources Board].

Air Quality Monitoring Market 2022 | 4.9 | $B
Air Quality Monitoring Market 2032 | 8.5 | $B

The projected growth in the air quality monitoring market, while not specific to hyperlocal analytics, indicates a foundational tailwind. The critical nuance is that growth is likely to be concentrated in higher-value, software-enabled data services that move beyond basic sensor hardware, which aligns with Aclima's platform approach.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing is based on analogous, third-party industry reports. Specific TAM for Aclima's niche is not publicly confirmed.

Competitive Landscape

MIXED Aclima operates in a specialized niche of the environmental sensing market, defined by its focus on high-resolution, multi-pollutant mapping for enterprise and government clients, a positioning that separates it from both consumer-grade sensor networks and pure software analytics firms.

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator	Source
Aclima	Hardware + software platform for hyperlocal, block-level mapping of air pollution and greenhouse gases.	Growth stage; $74.8M total raised [PitchBook, retrieved 2024].	Proprietary mobile and stationary sensor network for multi-pollutant "chemical fingerprinting" at source-level resolution.	[Climatebase, retrieved 2024], [UC Berkeley, retrieved 2024]
PurpleAir	Maker of low-cost, real-time air quality sensors for consumer and community use.	Acquired by IQAir in 2022; terms not disclosed.	Dense, crowdsourced network providing hyperlocal PM2.5 data via a public map.	[Crunchbase]
Clarity Movement	Provider of air quality monitoring hardware and software-as-a-service for cities and businesses.	Venture-backed; $12M Series A in 2021 [Crunchbase].	Focus on a modular, solar-powered hardware node and a SaaS platform for environmental data management.	[Crunchbase]
QuantAQ	Developer of regulatory-grade, low-cost air quality sensor systems for industrial and government clients.	Venture-backed; $5.1M Seed in 2021 [Crunchbase].	Emphasis on sensor performance validation and data quality for compliance-grade measurements.	[Crunchbase]
AirGradient	Open-source, DIY air quality monitoring kits and professional systems.	Bootstrapped / early-stage venture.	Open hardware and software platform, enabling customization and lower upfront costs.	[Crunchbase]

The competitive map splits into distinct segments. On the hardware side, Aclima competes with sensor manufacturers like Clarity and QuantAQ, which also target municipal and industrial customers. However, Aclima's emphasis on a roving fleet (historically via Google Street View partnerships) and its broader suite of measured gases (CO2, methane) pushes it toward more complex climate emissions intelligence, a higher-value proposition than particulate matter monitoring alone [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. Adjacent substitutes include traditional environmental consulting firms and regulatory agencies that rely on sparse, stationary monitoring stations, against which Aclima's "block-by-block" resolution is a direct challenge [Climatebase, retrieved 2024]. Pure software analytics platforms and satellite-based emissions monitoring services represent another adjacent category, competing on analysis rather than primary data collection.

Aclima's defensible edge today rests on three pillars: its proprietary multi-pollutant sensor technology, its established credibility with major partners, and its accumulated dataset. The technical edge is evidenced by its collaboration with the U.S. EPA to advance sensing technology and the roster of inventors on its patents [EPA, June 2015], [Justia Patents Search, retrieved 2026]. The partnership with Google, while historical, demonstrated an ability to execute at city-scale and likely generated a unique longitudinal dataset [Google Cloud, retrieved 2024]. This combination of scientific validation, operational scale, and a public benefit corporation charter creates a high barrier for new entrants aiming at the same tier of government and enterprise customers. This edge is durable only if the company maintains its technological lead and continues to convert pilot projects into recurring revenue streams; it becomes perishable if competitors achieve similar sensor performance at a lower cost.

The company's primary exposure lies in go-to-market and business model execution against more focused rivals. Competitors like Clarity and QuantAQ may compete directly on municipal air quality monitoring contracts, often with simpler, lower-cost hardware optimized for a narrower set of pollutants. Aclima's broader technical ambitions and likely higher price point could limit its addressable market to deep-pocketed clients with specific needs for greenhouse gas mapping. Furthermore, the company does not own a direct distribution channel to consumers or a crowdsourced network, ceding that high-volume, low-margin segment to PurpleAir and others. Its reliance on large, lump-sum project deployments or enterprise sales cycles, versus a scalable SaaS model, presents a scaling risk if the sales motion proves inefficient.

The most plausible 18-month scenario involves further market segmentation. Aclima is positioned to win if demand for granular, source-attributed greenhouse gas inventories accelerates among regulators and corporations facing net-zero mandates. In that case, its multi-gas capability and regulatory partnerships would be decisive. Conversely, Aclima could lose share in the broader air quality monitoring market if cities standardize on lower-cost, single-pollutant networks from competitors for basic compliance, viewing Aclima's offering as over-engineered and expensive for their needs. The competitive outcome likely hinges less on sensor technology alone and more on which company most effectively productizes its data into actionable, workflow-integrated software for its chosen customer segment.

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Competitor profiles and funding stages confirmed via Crunchbase; Aclima's positioning and differentiation corroborated by company sources and partner case studies.

Opportunity

PUBLIC

If Aclima executes on its core thesis, the prize is a foundational position in the emerging market for hyperlocal environmental intelligence, a category with a potential value measured in billions of dollars as cities, regulators, and corporations seek to quantify and manage climate and health risks at a granular level.

The headline opportunity is to become the default infrastructure for hyperlocal emissions accounting and air quality management. This outcome is reachable because the company has already demonstrated the technical capability to map pollutants at block-level resolution, a feat validated by its long-standing partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on advancing air quality sensing technology [EPA, June 2015] and its historical collaboration with Google Street View cars [Aclima, retrieved 2024]. These engagements provide a proof-of-concept for large-scale, trusted data collection that can be productized for a wider market of governments and enterprises. The company's positioning as a Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to public health and emissions reduction [Climatebase, retrieved 2024] further aligns it with the mission-driven procurement priorities of its target public sector and ESG-focused customers.

Growth could follow several distinct, concrete paths, each with identifiable catalysts.

Scenario	What happens	Catalyst	Why it's plausible
Regulatory Standard-Bearer	Aclima's data and methodology become the de facto standard for local air quality compliance and climate action plans.	A major city or state adopts Aclima's platform as the official basis for its emissions inventory and environmental justice initiatives.	The company's work with the EPA established a regulatory research precedent [EPA, June 2015], and its block-by-block resolution directly addresses environmental justice mapping needs that regulators are prioritizing.
Utility & Enterprise Climate Intelligence	The platform is adopted by energy utilities and large corporations as the core system for tracking Scope 1 emissions and community air quality impact.	A national utility signs a multi-year enterprise deal to monitor methane leaks and neighborhood-level emissions across its service territory.	Aclima's technology measures both greenhouse gases and air pollutants simultaneously [Aclima, retrieved 2024], which matches the dual reporting needs of utilities facing climate and clean air regulations.

Compounding for Aclima would likely manifest as a data and credibility flywheel. Each new municipal or utility deployment adds geographic coverage and pollutant-specific data, enriching the platform's historical dataset and improving its analytical models. This growing corpus of validated, high-resolution data could become a significant moat, as replicating such a network would require immense capital and time. Early signs of this flywheel are visible in the progression from an EPA research project to a commercial platform now seeking a Government Sales Leader for state and local clients [Aclima, retrieved 2026]. Credibility earned from public sector work can then be leveraged to win enterprise contracts, creating a reinforcing cycle of referenceable deployments.

The size of the win, while speculative, can be framed by looking at the valuation of public companies in adjacent data infrastructure and environmental services. While no direct public comparable exists for a hyperlocal air quality mapping platform, the scale of the opportunity is hinted at by the broader environmental consulting and data analytics market. If the "Regulatory Standard-Bearer" scenario plays out across multiple major metropolitan regions, the company's platform could approach the revenue scale of a specialized SaaS business serving a high-stakes, regulated vertical. This outcome is a scenario, not a forecast, but it illustrates the potential enterprise value anchored in becoming a critical piece of climate governance infrastructure.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The core opportunity thesis is supported by documented partnerships (EPA, Google) and the company's stated capabilities, but specific customer adoption metrics and detailed market size projections are not publicly available.

Sources

PUBLIC

1. [Climatebase, retrieved 2024] Aclima | https://climatebase.org/company/1138156/aclima

2. [Aclima, retrieved 2024] Aclima , https://aclima.earth

3. [UC Berkeley, retrieved 2024] Aclima, Inc. | https://ipira.berkeley.edu/aclima-inc

4. [PitchBook, retrieved 2024] Aclima 2025 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | PitchBook | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/56963-26

5. [EPA, June 2015] Advancing Air Quality Sensing Technology | https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/fact_sheet_aclima.pdf

6. [Crunchbase, retrieved 2026] Aclima - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/aclima

7. [LeadIQ, retrieved 2026] LeadIQ Profile | https://leadiq.com/company/aclima-inc

8. [Google Cloud, retrieved 2024] Google Cloud Customer Case Study: Aclima | https://cloud.google.com/customers/aclima/

9. [Aclima, retrieved 2026] Aclima Blog | https://blog.aclima.io

10. [Google Earth Outreach, retrieved 2026] Google Earth Outreach Project Air View | https://www.google.com/earth/outreach/success-stories/project-air-view/

11. [Justia Patents Search, retrieved 2026] Justia Patents Search for Aclima | https://patents.justia.com/assignee/aclima-inc

12. [Allied Market Research, 2023] Air Quality Monitoring Market | https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/air-quality-monitoring-market

13. [PwC, 2023] State of Climate Tech 2023 | https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/esg/state-of-climate-tech-2023.html

14. [SEC, 2022] SEC Proposed Rule: The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures | https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2022/33-11042.pdf

15. [California Air Resources Board] AB 617 Community Air Protection Program | https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/community-air-protection-program