- Notable activist investing platform The Rise Fund is pouring US$100 million into a little-known U.S.-based radar tech spin-off, Climavision
- The move comes as increasingly unpredictable climatic events draw investors to high-accuracy weather forecasting
- Climavision recently spun out from U.S. radar mainstay Enterprise Electronic
- It is focussed on combining lower altitude data with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve forecast reliability
- The company targets its “nowcasting” data to sectors such as agriculture, government, insurance, logistics, media, renewables, transportation and drones where accurate up-to-the-second weather information can save money, assets or even lives
- Rise’s major investment of $100 million will help Climavision fill gaps in its existing weather surveillance
- It will additionally help Climavision catch up to other big names entering the field, such as the Weather Company which was bought out by tech giant IBM in 2016
Notable activist investing platform The Rise Fund is pouring US$100 million into a little-known U.S.-based radar tech spin-off as increasingly chaotic climate events intensify interest in high-accuracy weather forecasting.
Calling itself a “global impact investing platform” the fund was spearheaded by U.S.-based finance giant TPG and counts among its founding board members U2’s Bono and An Inconvenient Truth producer Jeff Skoll.
Since it was established in 2016 Rise has invested $5 billion in impact initiatives across areas such as education equality, clean water tech, rural banking infrastructure and “zero-hunger” programs.
Its latest major investment, Climavision, recently spun out from U.S. radar mainstay Enterprise Electronic.
Climavision is focussed on combining lower altitude data with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve forecast reliability as global warming causes more extreme weather events.
The company targets its forecasting and “nowcasting” data to sectors such as agriculture, government, insurance, logistics, media, renewable energy, transportation and drones. It’s in these industries that accurate up-to-the-second weather data can save money, assets or even lives.
The need for accurate weather forecasting is becoming increasingly crucial. The U.S., for example last year experienced one of the worst hurricane seasons on record. The state often referenced as the food basket of the world, California, is beset by what National Geographic has called a “mega drought” and intensifying wildfires, while winter storms killed 176 people earlier this year.
“As weather patterns become increasingly unpredictable and volatile due to climate change, the need for higher-quality regional and hyper-local weather data has never been more pronounced,” Climavision Co-Founder and CEO Chris Goode said.
Rise’s investment will help Climavision boost its low-level coverage and fill gaps in its existing weather surveillance. It’s hoped that this will in turn help Climavision catch up to other big names promising high-tech weather data. Among these are the aptly named Weather Company, which was bought out by tech giant IBM back in 2016.
TPG partner and senior member of Rise’s climate investing team Edward Beckley said the investment in Climavision would help the forecasting company make the switch to leading-edge technology fit for predicting an ever-changing climate.
“Legacy radar systems have often left decision makers with an incomplete picture of the weather-related challenges they face,” Mr Beckley said.
“The rollout of low altitude radar sites will provide proprietary data to Climavision’s innovative AI-driven software platform, facilitating next-generation weather forecasting.
“As the need for efficient and accurate climate solutions becomes increasingly urgent, we look forward to working with Chris (Goode) and his expert team of industry veterans to expand the reach of these crucial insights.”