Meet Green City Solutions, one of the startups currently accelerated in Germany, as part of the first season of UR Link in the country. The main product of the startup is the City Tree, a connected green moss wall which reduces air pollution. It absorbs fine particles and nitrogen dioxide, has the same environmental benefit as 275 natural trees and is self-sufficient in energy and water.
Green City Solutions builds City Trees. How would you describe them?
The City Tree is the world’s first efficient & intelligent technology to substantially improve air quality and human wellbeing in urban environments.
How did your team come up with this innovative concept?
Driven by personal experiences of the devastating impacts of air pollution in Asia and southern Europe, the 4 founders set out in 2014 with the mission to tackle this largest environmental risk to human life. Fast forward, after 3 years of bootstrapping, product iterations and our first formal round of funding, we are now delivering clean air in 20+ European cities. We believe in a future where our unique combination of moss and IoT technology can be a positive force for change for the 7M+ lost lives that are caused by toxic air every year.
By joining the UR Link Germany acceleration programme, you are going to be able to work with shopping centres. How can the City Tree contribute to build the shopping centres of tomorrow?
Contrary to the common understanding that air pollution only affects the developing world, we are on a mission to deliver clean air indoors, where we spend 90% of our time and the air quality can be 2-5 times worse than outsides. Shopping centers are an ideal use case to investigate whether our green air filter can increase the wellbeing of Unibail-Rodamco’s customers and community.
Tell us a bit about the pilot project you are working on…
In July 2017, we will install a City Tree in Palais Vest shopping center in Recklinghausen (Germany). We are super excited to kick it off, since previous pilot projects and an unsurmountable amount of research indicate that our green moss wall will have a significant impact on quality of stay & overall customer satisfaction. If you want to know more, experience the City Tree yourself in the basement of Palais Vest. So, stay tuned for updates.
Who are your UR business owners? And your mentors? In what ways are they helping you?
It’s a great pleasure to work alongside our business owners Felix Hilger (Market Research Manager) and Moritz Valeriano (Investment Manager) and receive valuable insights into the operational dynamics into a leading commercial property developer. The collaboration of an innovative startup and a resourceful corporate sound like a perfect match in theory, however, is hardly the case in practice. That’s why we are thrilled by the great match-making of the UR Link programme. They facilitate the obvious differences in company culture, speed of decision-making and risk appetite. Hence, this is a fantastic learning experience for both worlds to further deepen our relationship and deliver clean air and nature to as many indoor environments as possible.
The one-thing you wouldn’t have been able to do without UR Link?
The program is a great to enhance our understanding of the decision-making processes in a multi-national real estate leader in order to further accelerate our growth in this segment.
The first season of UR Link Germany will soon end. What’s next for you guys?
We work tirelessly to build new product versions to make it as easy as possible for driven corporates to bring clean air to their customers and employees all around Europe. It is a huge untapped market and we discovered many surprising, positive effects on the human health and productivity by improving the air we breathe. We are very happy to have found such a committed partner in Unibail-Rodamco that shares the believe to provide healthy urban communities and transform the way to interact with nature.
To know more: https://greencitysolutions.de/en/