START: Leo Kankkunen, Founder & CEO, DAIVIN!: “Tankless Dive Gear - Breath Autonomy at Sea, Land & Space” episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 20, 2026 · 9 MIN

START: Leo Kankkunen, Founder & CEO, DAIVIN!: “Tankless Dive Gear - Breath Autonomy at Sea, Land & Space”

from START · host Fondo

A single glass of water holds about 20 hours of breathingLeo Kankkunen is building the gear that pulls it outTankless diving technology that generates breathable oxygen directly from water. It sounds impossible at first. Then you hear the physics...Then you realize the implications stretch far past divingWater is hydrogen and oxygen. Apply a DC current, swing away the electrons binding them, and you get the purest form of breathable gas.The idea started with a simple frustrationLeo is an electrical engineer and a diver. Every dive exposed the same limits: Bulky tanks, Logistics, Safety risks, Cost, and Operational complexity.Instead of accepting those constraints, he asked a question: Is there any way we could breathe like a fish?That sent him down a rabbit hole into electrolysisIf water already contains oxygen, why haul tanks at all? Why not generate breathable oxygen exactly where and when it's needed?Enter DAIVIN! (YC W26) - Tankless dive gear that generates oxygen directly from the water around you. No tanks to haul, fill, or run out of.But diving is just the wedgeAnywhere breathing depends on a tank, the tank sets the limit. Crisis zones. High altitude rescue. Anywhere time is human lives. Generate the oxygen on site, and there's no supply chain to depend on.🎙️ Leo Kankkunen, CEO & Founder, Daivin on Fondo START pod00:18 What Daivin is building and why oxygen tanks are the real problem00:43 One glass of water holds roughly 20 hours of breathing01:05 The science of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen with a DC current01:38 The wearable system that draws in surrounding water and produces oxygen02:10 Leo's path from electrical engineer and diver to founder02:48 Where the tech stands today: commercial close, consumer further out03:15 Why removing oxygen logistics matters in crisis response and rescue03:38 The Netflix versus Blockbuster framing for oxygen infrastructure04:05 Why water beats gas tanks for breathing beyond Earth05:20 From a Slush side event in Finland to a YC interview within weeks06:25 Building in San Francisco versus Finland and compressing months into weeks07:15 Leo's advice for founders: build what genuinely interests youCheck out daivin.tech

A single glass of water holds about 20 hours of breathingLeo Kankkunen is building the gear that pulls it outTankless diving technology that generates breathable oxygen directly from water. It sounds impossible at first. Then you hear the physics...Then you realize the implications stretch far past divingWater is hydrogen and oxygen. Apply a DC current, swing away the electrons binding them, and you get the purest form of breathable gas.The idea started with a simple frustrationLeo is an electrical engineer and a diver. Every dive exposed the same limits: Bulky tanks, Logistics, Safety risks, Cost, and Operational complexity.Instead of accepting those constraints, he asked a question: Is there any way we could breathe like a fish?That sent him down a rabbit hole into electrolysisIf water already contains oxygen, why haul tanks at all? Why not generate breathable oxygen exactly where and when it's needed?Enter DAIVIN! (YC W26) - Tankless dive gear that generates oxygen directly from the water around you. No tanks to haul, fill, or run out of.But diving is just the wedgeAnywhere breathing depends on a tank, the tank sets the limit. Crisis zones. High altitude rescue. Anywhere time is human lives. Generate the oxygen on site, and there's no supply chain to depend on.🎙️ Leo Kankkunen, CEO & Founder, Daivin on Fondo START pod00:18 What Daivin is building and why oxygen tanks are the real problem00:43 One glass of water holds roughly 20 hours of breathing01:05 The science of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen with a DC current01:38 The wearable system that draws in surrounding water and produces oxygen02:10 Leo's path from electrical engineer and diver to founder02:48 Where the tech stands today: commercial close, consumer further out03:15 Why removing oxygen logistics matters in crisis response and rescue03:38 The Netflix versus Blockbuster framing for oxygen infrastructure04:05 Why water beats gas tanks for breathing beyond Earth05:20 From a Slush side event in Finland to a YC interview within weeks06:25 Building in San Francisco versus Finland and compressing months into weeks07:15 Leo's advice for founders: build what genuinely interests youCheck out daivin.tech

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START: Leo Kankkunen, Founder & CEO, DAIVIN!: “Tankless Dive Gear - Breath Autonomy at Sea, Land & Space”

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A single glass of water holds about 20 hours of breathingLeo Kankkunen is building the gear that pulls it outTankless diving technology that generates breathable oxygen directly from water. It sounds impossible at first. Then you hear the...

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