Nearly $3 trillion of the U.S. economy’s GDP is at risk to weather every year, but Boston-based startup ClimaCell hopes to change that.
The company, which offers software-based hyperlocal weather forecasting, raised a $15 million Series A round of funding today, offering industries like aviation, insurance, financial services and defense a new way to forecast the weather.
How? The company gathers weather observation data from wireless networks that feeds into its forecasting models. The results pinpoint weather prediction down to city block level in real time at one-minute intervals up to six hours in the future for businesses and government agencies.
“By shifting from forecasting to more accurate, granular, real-time predictions — what we call 'nowcasting,' ClimaCell is changing the way massive industries assess, manage and make decisions around weather risk,” said Rich Boyle, general partner at Canaan who will be joining ClimaCell’s board, in a statement.
The round was led by Canaan with participation from Fontinalis Partners and existing investor Square Peg Capital. The new funding will be used to expand the business outside of the U.S., speed up product development and to support new hires.
“The ClimaCell team is excited about the opportunities in the market and the ability to rapidly scale our technology worldwide,” said Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and co-founder, in a statement.
While the startup’s software serves a variety of verticals, it hopes to have a significant and immediate impact in the aviation and mobility sectors.
