Breath-based diagnostics of respiratory infections
Our breath analysers identify common respiratory infections, even before the manifestation of symptoms
Respiratory infections are a growing burden — worsened by strained healthcare systems and unequal access to care
13.1B episodes,
2.5M deaths worldwide annually
20–50% could be prevented through early screening and isolation
11.1M global healthcare worker shortage by 2030
63% of primary care visits for acute respiratory infections could be avoided through better triage
Up to 73% faster hospitalisation discharge after point-of-care testing
24% (178M) of Europe’s population lives in rural areas with healthcare access challenges
Shortages in primary care for respiratory infections cause up to 3.5M non-urgent ED visits in Europe resulting in up to €1.4B of preventable spend per year
Handheld device
Complete diagnostic solution
- Ultra-rapid and precise detection.
- Diagnostic in 3 minutes
Performance on a par with amplification methods - Early and cost-effective diagnosis.
- Reduce disease severity and infection transmission
Reduce related costs (repeat visits, unnecessary isolation) - Ease of use.
- Handheld, standalone
Minimally invasive
Automated diagnostics; no additional reagents
VAir’s non-invasive technology outperforms existing point-of-care diagnostic tools
Interested to be among our first users?
Our team
We are scientists and engineers building diagnostics that are rigorous, developed alongside the clinicians who use them, and accessible to every care setting that needs them.
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Ekaterina Kukhtenko
CEO & Co-founder
Ekaterina is a bioengineer who built her expertise across research in France and Russia — spanning biosensors and intelligent materials, microbiology, and preclinical validation in pharma startup environment. She has authored 3 peer-reviewed publications with hands-on experience spanning the full experimental lifecycle — from protocol design and assay development to data analysis and scientific communication. Her thesis work on a novel biosensing technology for pathogen detection became the seed of VAir, which she founded with the conviction that accurate respiratory diagnosis should not depend on laboratory infrastructure that most care settings don’t have access to.
For Ekaterina, VAir is personal as much as scientific. When her grandmother was hospitalised following undiagnosed Covid-19, the gap between what diagnostics could do and what was actually available at the point of care became impossible to ignore. -
Guillaume Belhaj, MBA
CTO/COO & Co-founder
Guillaume brings over 8 years of experience across biotech and consumer goods, backed by an MBA from ESMT Berlin. His background spans hardware development, industrialization, and supplier management — blending engineering rigor with product thinking and a sharp focus on scaling.
At Univercells Technologies, he led the design and industrialization of advanced bioprocessing equipment, taking products from concept all the way to CE-marked devices now used worldwide in vaccine and gene therapy production. At Procter & Gamble, he managed the setup of a greenfield manufacturing facility and coordinated production line deployments across multiple European plants. More recently, he partnered with Bayer Co.Lab to shape their marketing strategy and competitive positioning within the European biotech ecosystem.
At VAir, Guillaume channels all of this into one mission: building a device that gives every frontline clinician the tools to make confident, fast, and reliable clinical decisions.
