The story of atmio begins not just with a business idea, but with a pressing global challenge: the fight against climate change. Founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2023 by the visionary duo Matthias Schmittmann and Marius Krüger, atmio emerged from a shared ambition to make a tangible impact on reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Both founders brought a wealth of experience and a history of entrepreneurial success to the table. Matthias, a chemical engineer by training, had already successfully built and sold a gas detector company, 'bentekk', to the German corporation Dräger, giving him deep insights into the gas measurement industry. Marius, also a repeat founder, had spent years at BP, gaining invaluable knowledge of the energy sector's inner workings. This powerful combination of technical expertise and industry understanding laid the groundwork for a company poised to tackle a very specific, yet monumental, problem: methane leaks.
The founders recognized that while the world was focused on CO2, methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times more potent in the short term, was a significant and often overlooked contributor to global warming, with the energy sector being a primary source of these emissions. They saw an opportunity to create a solution that was not just about compliance but about driving real environmental change. The journey began in earnest as they developed an all-in-one platform designed to empower natural gas operators. Their vision was to transform the traditionally manual, time-consuming, and often inaccurate process of leak detection and repair (LDAR) into a streamlined, digitized, and efficient operation. With the introduction of new EU regulations mandating stricter methane monitoring and reporting, atmio's timing was perfect. Their platform, which combines user-friendly hardware like handheld sensors with a sophisticated software and mobile app, offers an end-to-end system to find, fix, and report leaks. This narrative of innovation and purpose has quickly attracted significant attention, leading to successful funding rounds and partnerships with major players in the gas industry, setting atmio on a path to become a global leader in emissions management technology.