The founder who wanted to warn the world

As a child, Israeli environmental engineer Ran Korber used to watch films in which scientists warned world leaders about impending danger and dreamed of doing the same.

That ambition would later help shape BreezoMeter, the air-quality technology company he co-founded to measure and forecast pollution levels in real time. The business grew into a global platform used by hundreds of millions of people, before being bought by Google in 2022.

Korber, 43, has since returned to the Technion in Haifa, where he trained as one of the country’s first environmental engineers, to teach the next generation of entrepreneurs. And he has not ruled out starting another venture of his own.

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BreezoMeter was born out of a personal challenge. Korber was searching for a place to live with his wife, who has asthma, while she was pregnant with their first child. As someone who understood the science, he knew the risks.

“Air pollution is the leading environmental cause of premature death,” he says. “It increases the risk of premature birth and asthma attacks. I wanted to protect my family and realised there was no way to know where the cleanest air actually was.”

That gap led Korber and a small group of friends and fellow Technion graduates to begin building a tool that could translate complex environmental data into something practical and accessible. “If we were going to take the risk of starting a company, we wanted it to be for the most noble cause possible,” he says. “We decided our mission would be to improve the health of billions of people.”

BreezoMeter was established to measure and forecast air quality at a hyper-local level, analysing dozens of pollutants including air pollution.

Many have likely encountered this data through various mobile weather apps, often without realising it.

“What mattered to us was making environmental science actionable,” Korber says, “not just data for scientists, but real-time guidance people could use to protect their health.”

The platform’s impact was recognised early. When BreezoMeter was just a year old, it was recognised for excellence by the United Nations.

In 2015, Korber was invited to meet President Barack Obama in Kenya for the Global Emerging Entrepreneurs Event, where he was selected as one of just 72 entrepreneurs selected to showcase innovative businesses. He later went on to advise world leaders and ministers on air pollution and climate risk.

“When I was younger, I watched films where scientists warned presidents about disasters,” he recalls. “Standing in front of ministers and presidents and explaining the health risks of air pollution – that felt like a full-circle moment.”

Despite BreezoMeter’s success, Korber is candid about the realities of entrepreneurship. He often quotes LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman’s description of creating a startup as “building a plane while jumping off a cliff”.

“Being a founder is incredibly hard,” says Korber. “You can go years without a salary. The odds are against you. There’s a 99 per cent chance of failure, and fewer than 10 per cent of startups even manage to raise funding.”

Korber was 30 when he founded BreezoMeter – married, with a mortgage and baby daughter. “That’s why the mission mattered so much,” he says. “If you’re going to take that risk, it has to be for something truly meaningful.”

For Korber, impact has never been an afterthought. Long before BreezoMeter was acquired, the company committed part of its equity to the Tmura fund, which channels proceeds from startup exits into non-profit organisations in Israel. Korber himself donates 10 per cent of his income to charitable causes.

One of the most meaningful contributions followed the birth of his youngest daughter, who required multiple surgeries and spent dozens of days in hospital during her first year. The family spent months at the Sheba Medical Center, where they saw first-hand how difficult the experience could be for parents and medical staff.

“We wanted to improve the experience for families who had to stay in hospital with their children.” Their donations helped fund practical improvements, including better beds for parents and doctors. “After October 7, children who had been held hostage were treated at the same hospital. Some were sleeping in the beds we helped provide. That stays with you.”

For Korber, success carries responsibility, not just to give financially, but to help the next generation of entrepreneurs. Last year, he joined the Technion’s Entrepreneurship Leadership Programme, where he teaches undergraduates that are preparing to enter the startup world.

“We were the students once,” he says. “We had mentors who helped us without asking for anything in return. There’s a responsibility to pass that on.” Among his own early mentors was Waze co-founder Uri Levine.

In addition to mentoring, Korber is an angel investor in startups that align with his vision of creating meaningful, lasting impact, some founded by former BreezoMeter employees. He sees strong potential in climate tech, environmental solutions, agriculture, water and digital health.

“These are sectors where you can build successful companies and also make a real difference to the world.”

As for whether he will start another company himself, Korber is clearly not finished. “Entrepreneurship is still the most effective way I know to create impact but for now, I’m focused on my family and my students. I’m sure I’ll build something else at some point. The mission isn’t over.”