After ridiculing one mosquito-fighting product, I figured it’d be only right to highlight another piece of buzz-reducing tech that was showing off its products at CES this year. Mosqitter is an industrial-scale mosquito murdering machine that attracts female mosquitos before they get a chance to lay eggs. From there, it’s a short zap away from dispatching them with great aplomb.
The company explains that there are four natural components that mosquitoes are lured to before they launch into their vampiric, blood-sucking ways: The CO2 from breathing, the heat signatures from our bodies, UV light at a specific wave-length that mammals emit and scent. Mosqitter’s product uses all four to attract the creatures, in various cycles to maximize its allure. The company explains its product is designed to work in all weather conditions. It can be operated remotely through an app, and can run 24/7 by adding an optional set of solar panels.
Once the mosquitos have been courted into the machine, they are killed without the use of poisons.
“Mosqitter imitates a living being, which attracts female mosquitoes, and pulls them into the device. The results can be seen from day one. Two-three weeks later, the mosquitoes’ breeding cycle will be disrupted and the territory will be free of mosquitoes,” the company’s COO, Olga Diachuk explains, before clarifying that the machine doesn’t kill the mosquitos directly – it has a net that keeps them trapped, where they starve to death and/or dry out.
The company originally started sales in 2020, and claims it has sold more than 250 units. It is hoping to start scaling up manufacturing in the local areas where the machines will be most needed, including Italy, India and Zimbabwe. Perhaps most impressively, the company has accomplished all of this on a shoestring budget. Since being founded in 2019, the company has been operating from $85,000 worth of grants from the Ukrainian Startup Fund and CRDF Global, and a $100,000 angel check, in addition to its revenue generated from product sales.
Mosquitter currently has three different versions of its product on the market – the smallest, for home use, costs $950. A business-focused version costs $1,150, and there’s a large-scale version available for $2,100, which is focused on parks, local municipalities, and larger areas.
