WindBorne Systems secures $15 million in Series A funding to expand its balloon constellation AI weather modelling, aimed at mitigating weather-related losses.
With extreme weather events on the rise, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified them as the biggest risk to businesses in the coming decade. Forecasting inaccuracies exacerbate the loss of human lives and contribute to hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and uninsured losses every year. Therefore, better forecasts are crucial for mitigating these losses.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that 85% of the Earth’s atmosphere lacks sufficient data. WindBorne operates the only platform capable of effectively addressing this gap.
WindBorne will use the new funding to accelerate engineering efforts across its technology stack. Its goal is to operate 10,000 balloons concurrently by 2028 to offer complete global coverage, refine its autonomous flight software, and advance its AI-based weather forecast model.
Additionally, the company will expand its technical headcount and strengthen strategic revenue teams, such as proposals and business development, as it enters the commercial sector and collaborates with international governments.
John Dean, WindBorne co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, comments, “Just as the privatisation of space catalysed huge leaps over the past few decades, we’re driving an equally exciting shift in weather technology.”
He adds, “Collaboration across government, research, and private companies will play an essential role, marrying the best of commercial innovation with global systems that can deliver a tangible, positive impact for every individual.”
Kai Marshland, WindBorne co-founder and Chief Product Officer, emphasises, “The emergence of generative AI and WindBorne’s AI-native tech stack will enable us to deliver a new, smarter kind of weather experience that’s bespoke and co-creative in ways that software has never been before,”
He continues, “The ability to cost-effectively deliver these insights across any industry and company presents an enormous opportunity to not only reduce emissions through smarter energy use, but also to help every community better adapt to the extreme weather that’s intensifying in the wake of climate change.”
Sven Strohband, partner at Khosla Ventures, explains, “AI is fundamentally changing weather prediction, which hasn’t been meaningfully disrupted since the 1990s, but is essential to better understand and address the impacts of climate change,”
“WindBorne’s novel balloon hardware coupled with autonomous flight software enables them to collect data no one else can, training a new generation of AI-based weather models,” Strohband concludes.
