Azulfy: Empowering Cities to Fight Pollution with Satellites
Tackling Pollution with Space Technology
Azulfy, a Portuguese startup, is addressing a critical global challenge: monitoring environmental pollution across vast territories, including rivers, reservoirs and urban zones. Using Copernicus Earth Observation (EO) data, their Pollution Crisis Management Platform tracks 19 variables—seven for water, eight for air, and four for soil—helping local governments not only to quantify pollution empowering them to meet EU standards, such as the Zero Pollution Action Plan- but also to manage their territory more efficiently. EUSPA’s “CASSINI sparked our journey, turning a hackathon idea into a game-changer,” says Fernando Bebiano Correia, Azulfy’s CEO.
The problem is daunting: municipalities lack tools to monitor pollution events on the entire territory on a day-to-day basis. Azulfy’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, born from its win at the 3rd CASSINI Hackathon in Portugal integrates satellite data with AI to deliver daily updates and automatic alerts. As a prize for winning first place in the mentioned Hackathon and getting second place in the European Cassini Hackathon a week later, the team received mentorship for 6 months, during which they tested the business hypothesis with the target market, validating it. From that close contact with the Portuguese municipalities was born their solution, which was designed to meet the needs and challenges of European local governments in what concerns pollution data, pollution crisis management and territory management.
With a permanent focus on the quickly evolving EU environmental legislation and the resulting new needs of their target market, they are refining their approach and testing it with Portuguese municipalities to ensure compliance with- for example- the latest EU Directive 2024/2881 on air quality.
Measurable Wins and Growing Impact
Azulfy is still at an early stage but has already registered promising achievements. Quantitatively, they secured financing from different sources, including several prize-money awards in the R&D realm, but also from a well-known VC and the accelerator they incubated in, the ESA BIC (Business Incubation Centre). Several clients are already confirmed.
Azufy platform empowers customers to accurately monitor air and water quality within their territory and gather data not only on sensitive areas but also on unexpected blind spots. This quantification is empowering the municipal executive team to design and implement effective policies that address recurring pollution challenges within their territory.
EUSPA’s CASSINI programme was pivotal. The Hackathon birthed their concept and initial funding, ESA BIC provided additional grant, mentorship, and access to IPN’s network. CASSINI’s mentoring sessions helped pivot their focus from tourism to environmental monitoring, and the mentorship guided the validation of their SaaS with real-world municipal feedback. Then came the VC investment and soon after the first customer.
Why It Matters and What’s Next
Azulfy’s work solves a pressing issue: fragmented pollution data hinders timely action. By centralizing insights and enabling rapid responses, their platform protects ecosystems and public health, aligning with EU sustainability goals.
The next steps include adding three pollution use cases to the platform, enhancing AI algorithms to predict pollution movement and scaling to 50 municipalities by 2027.
For more, visit Azulfy or EUSPA.
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