Image Credits: PNOĒ /
PNOE’s new face mask wants to make lab-grade breath testing a self-serve affair
6:40 PM PDT · September 26, 2026
At first glance, the newest device from PNOĒ looks like something a comic-book villain might wear. The mask, which covers the nose and mouth and straps around the back of the head, bears more than a passing resemblance to the one worn by Bane, Batman’s hulking nemesis. But its purpose is far more benign; it measures how much oxygen you consume and how much carbon dioxide you exhale, then turns that data into advice about how to eat, train, and, the company hopes, live longer.
PNOĒ, which is based in Malden, Massachusetts, and has operations in Athens, Greece, is preparing to launch the PNOĒ 2.0 on October 1. The big change from its current device is that users can administer the test themselves. According to co-founder and CEO Apostolos Atsalakis, someone can walk into a gym, “just wear the mask, push the button, sit down,” and breathe for eight minutes. “That’s it. It’s that easy,” he said recently, talking with this editor over a Zoom call from the company’s Athens location.
That matters because PNOĒ’s current device requires a trained operator, which limits where it can be used. A self-serve version could open the door to fitness centers without dedicated staff and potentially even pharmacies, Atsalakis said.
The science behind PNOĒ isn’t new. Metabolic testing, which analyzes the gases in a person’s breath to gauge how their body produces energy, has been around for more than a century. For decades, it has been the gold standard for measuring VO₂ max, the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use during exercise and a widely used measure of cardiorespiratory fitness. But the tests have traditionally required bulky, expensive equipment found mainly in sports labs and hospitals, which is why they’ve largely been the province of elite athletes and executive wellness programs.
What 10-year-old PNOĒ promises is the same accuracy in a portable package, paired with software that translates the results into recommendations. “We made it accessible to everyone,” Atsalakis said.
The company says its test captures 23 biomarkers, including (beyond measuring VO₂ max) one’s resting metabolic rate (how many calories the body burns at rest), and metabolic flexibility (how well the body switches between burning fat and carbohydrates). Atsalakis argues that these metrics answer questions that blood tests can’t, such as how many calories a person needs or how they should train.
The timing is good for PNOĒ. VO₂ max has become a buzzword among longevity enthusiasts, thanks in part to research linking higher cardiorespiratory fitness to lower mortality. Atsalakis calls VO₂ max the strongest predictor of human longevity, and he sees his company’s data as a kind of scorecard for the booming wellness industry.
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The new device is smaller and more compact than its predecessor, with fewer parts, which Atsalakis said makes it more reliable. It was designed with Milan-based Design Group Italia over what Atsalakis described as “a lot, a lot, a lot of iterations,” since a self-administered metabolic testing device hadn’t been done before.
It also addresses a question that post-pandemic users are likely to ask: who wore it last? The answer: it doesn’t matter, as the electronics detach from the silicone mask and straps, so multiple people can share the costly hardware while each user keeps their own mask.
For all its clinical ambitions, PNOĒ is careful about what it claims. The device isn’t cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Atsalakis said that “we do not provide medical recommendations.” Instead, PNOĒ considers itself a wellness device. “It’s like a body composition device, like a scale,” he said. “A doctor cannot prescribe medication based on our results.”
That could change down the road. Researchers have long explored whether compounds in human breath can signal diseases such as cancer, and Atsalakis believes the company’s growing trove of data could eventually help it flag health issues. But he acknowledged that full diagnoses are “definitely a couple of years away,” with regulatory hurdles likely stretching that timeline further. “We’re not there yet,” he said.
PNOĒ traces its roots to Atsalakis’s PhD work in sensing technologies at the University of Cambridge, when wearables were taking off and he became fascinated by what the breath could reveal about the body. He co-founded the company with Panos Papadiamantis, a childhood friend who is now the company’s chief product officer.
The startup went through Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch, back when “longevity” was not yet the industry it is today. It has since raised about $22 million, including a recently closed $11 million round, from investors including 50 Years and Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen, who is himself now based in Athens.
PNOĒ sells only to businesses, which then offer the test to their customers. Its clients include Equinox, where it’s available at almost all clubs, said Atsalakis, as well as Four Seasons hotels, Red Bull, the NBA, the Mount Sinai Health System, and the med spa chain Restore Hyper Wellness.
About 85% of its business comes from the U.S., which Atsalakis described as “by far the most advanced market globally” for longevity. The company is now expanding in Europe and, through partners, in Latin America and Asia.
Businesses pay a subscription ranging from $400 a month to more than $1,000, which covers the hardware, software, training, and marketing materials, a package Atsalakis calls a “business in a box.” PNOĒ also links its results to the services a business sells, so a gym or spa can recommend specific offerings based on a customer’s test. Many clients use the test during onboarding, Atsalakis said, positioning it somewhere between a full clinical workup and the estimates people get from their smartwatches.
That middle ground is increasingly crowded. Apple, Garmin, and Whoop all estimate VO₂ max from heart-rate data, while consumer devices like Lumen analyze breath to gauge fat and carb burning. At the high end, traditional metabolic carts remain the standard in labs and hospitals.
PNOĒ, which employs 110 people, says it recently turned profitable, while growing more than 100% a year. Atsalakis said the company plans to raise a Series B within the next six to 12 months as it tries to put its mask — Bane comparisons and all — in front of more faces.
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Image Credits: Meadow
Meadow lets you leave your smartphone at home without sacrificing the essentials
7:05 AM PDT · September 25, 2026
I held my breath as I walked into the concert venue and showed the bouncer a ticket barcode on a three-inch, square screen.
“If it doesn’t go through, I can try something else,” I said quickly, worried that the barcode wouldn’t work. But just as Meadow founder Shreyas Narlanka promised me, the code I scanned onto the startup’s minimalist phone earlier that day worked fine.
“Cool phone,” the bouncer said, ushering me inside.
I’d done it. With Meadow’s bare-bones smartphone, I had called an Uber, streamed Apple Music during the ride, and entered the show. Not once did I need to touch my iPhone, which I only brought with me as a backup in case the ticket scan didn’t work.
“With so many dumb phones, the Brick, and everything, the messaging is like, ‘Slow down, focus on your work’ or whatever,” Narlanka says, explaining why his company chose to build a minimal phone. “But the reason we’re different is because we’re all about getting outside and unplugging and having a sick social life.”
Image Credits: Meadow
Go online, and you’ll see a growing mass of content and comments from people across the world feeling suffocated by being constantly connected via their smartphones and social media feeds. That’s resulting in a new device category that promises a reprieve. Some of these devices, like the Light Phone, require users to completely give up their smartphone and switch to a simpler device. Others, like the Wisephone, offer a modern touchscreen device with a minimal UI and a few apps. Still others are embracing more tactile form factors, like the Commodore Callback, which is a flip-phone with a touchscreen.
Meadow, meanwhile, is taking the middle road, intending to simply supplement your existing device. It runs Android, and so supports apps like Maps, Strava, Uber, Apple Music, and Spotify. It also has native apps for utilities like the camera, voice memos, notes, camera, text, calling, location sharing, and ticket scanning. It also supports Bluetooth, and you can connect 3.5mm headphones to it using a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter.
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“I knew there were going to be times where I needed my phone,” Narlanka said. “I didn’t want a full replacement.”
You can’t make calls and send texts with your usual phone number, though — you’ll have to set up a new plan through a subscription plan with Meadow, which gives you a separate number to use while you’re on the go.
Narlanka recommends his customers take advantage of the iPhone’s “driving” focus feature, which by default tells your top contacts that you’re on the road — instead, he says, you can customize the text to say you’re out with the Meadow. This way, you might miss the latest chatter in your group chats, but if anyone needs to contact you urgently, they’ll still be able to reach you.
“We’re not Luddites that are going to be like, ‘Streaming’s bad, and this is bad,’” he said. “It’s just we don’t want social media, browsing and that kind of stuff.”
This sentiment has become an increasingly common one. People talk about reducing their screen time as something that’s universally assumed to be good for you, like eating vegetables or flossing. Even ADÉLA, the artist whose concert I attended, used her manager’s phone to publish a celebration post after her debut album hit No. 4 on the Billboard charts.
“I have deleted social media because i want to stay sane!” the 22-year-old pop star wrote on Instagram.
Image Credits: Photos taken on Meadow by TechCrunch
Her fans don’t feel the same way — I saw several people recording the entire show on their iPhones. (There’s nothing wrong with snapping a few photos or a short video for Instagram, but an entire show?)
Speaking of cameras, the one on the Meadow worked well when out and about during the day, but the pictures weren’t great when I tried using it to take photos at the concert.
The camera app also works differently from your usual smartphone fare: You can take as many photos and videos as you want, but you can only see your photos once you get home and use the Meadow app from your main smartphone. And instead of a front-facing camera, Meadow has a tiny mirror beside the camera lens so that you can make sure you’re in the frame of your selfies.
The screen brightness and battery weren’t an issue when taking the Meadow around — if anything, the display can sometimes be a bit too bright in low-lit areas, but that meant it was always very visible outdoors.
In your hand, the small, square device feels a bit unfamiliar, though it does feel functional enough. This isn’t a device that Meadow wants you to use constantly, so it’s not a problem that it feels less comfortable than an iPhone.
Image Credits: Meadow
Meadow is still new; it’s only shipped its first bulk batch to preorder customers so far. I ran into some small issues, too, like a glitch that showed my Uber ride had not ended for a while after I left the car (for a second I worried I had accidentally ordered a second Uber). Narlanka tells me, though, that this bug has been fixed now.
Overall, if you can handle the discomfort of managing a second phone number, Meadow works well as a device that helps you disconnect without leaving you fully off the grid.
Though Narlanka is only 25-years-old, Meadow isn’t his first startup. He dropped out of UC San Diego in 2020 when his last company, Scoutapp AI, started gaining traction. The inventory management platform for online businesses ended up being acquired by fashion resale platform StockX.
Meadow is Narlanka’s first attempt at making hardware, though his previous success has earned him backing from investors. The company raised funding in December 2024, led by Alana Goyal of basecase capital. Angel investors Terrence Rohan, Discord’s founding CMO Eros Resmini, Vercel founder Guillermo Rauch, and Diagram founder Jordan Singer also participated.
Topics
Gadgets, Hardware, meadow, smartphones
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Amanda Silberling
Senior Writer
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