Minnesota face mask makes Time Magazine’s 2020 best invention list

Breathe99 designed a B2 mask they say filters 99% of common contaminants and reduces filter cost and waste by half.

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota Company is recognized by Time Magazine as having one of the best inventions of 2020.

The idea to design a mask came years before the pandemic hit when Max Bock-Aronson was studying abroad in Singapore in 2013.

“I started to notice that when I would go on runs that my throat and lungs would hurt when air quality was poor,” Bock-Aronson said.

He says he couldn’t find a mask he liked.

“So, that was sort of the test for designing a better, more protective, usable respirator for life’s daily activities,” Bock-Aronson said.

Breathe99 was born. In 2019 the Minneapolis-based company launched a Kickstarter.

“We did not meet our funding goal then. We learned a lot of valuable lessons and it was a humbling experience,” Bock-Aronson said.

After this step back, the company was looking at what their next step would be.

“And then that’s when Covid started bubbling up,” Bock-Aronson said.

It couldn’t have felt more ideal for Breathe99 to relaunch the product on Kickstarter in April.

“And it was in that campaign that we generated $500,000 of preorder,” Bock-Aronson said.

The company designed a B2 mask they say filters 99 percent of common contaminants and reduces filter cost and waste by half. It was designed to provide protection to those who are most at risk like elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

The B2 mask was part of Time’s Magazine’s masks that do more category as part of this year’s best invention list.

“It means a lot. It’s still a little surreal,” Bock-Aronson said.

The CEO says his goal was not to be recognized, but to improve the everyday lives of people.

“It just makes me feel very full to be able to bring a product like these that gives people peace of mind,” Bock-Aronson said.