diff --git a/ftfy/badness.py b/ftfy/badness.py
index 38ec1f4..2272c54 100644
--- a/ftfy/badness.py
+++ b/ftfy/badness.py
@@ -364,6 +364,12 @@
     |
     ^[ÃÂ][ ]
     |
+    # Upper-accented letter followed by a currency symbol at the very
+    # start of the string (otherwise usually requires a preceding space).
+    # Require a word character after the pair so the pattern does not match
+    # the isolated 2-character substring inside decode_inconsistent_utf8.
+    ^[{upper_accented}][{currency}]\w
+    |
 
     # Cases where  precedes a character as an encoding of exactly the same
     # character, and the character is common enough
diff --git a/tests/test-cases/synthetic.json b/tests/test-cases/synthetic.json
index a939311..14d4e33 100644
--- a/tests/test-cases/synthetic.json
+++ b/tests/test-cases/synthetic.json
@@ -204,5 +204,12 @@
         "original": "OÙ ET QUAND?",
         "fixed": "OÙ ET QUAND?",
         "expect": "pass"
+    },
+    {
+        "label": "Synthetic: mojibake at the beginning of a string (Ã¥ for å)",
+        "comment": "issue #222: å mojibake not detected at the very start of a string. The badness heuristic missed Ã¥ when a currency symbol followed an upper-accented letter without a preceding space.",
+        "original": "Ã¥klagarmyndighets",
+        "fixed": "åklagarmyndighets",
+        "expect": "pass"
     }
 ]
\ No newline at end of file