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Martin Fengler jazz a luck about the atmospheric condition . Fengler set out his Ph.D. in mathematics , focused on numerical weather prediction , before working for Meteomedia AG , a web of weather stations in Switzerland and Germany . But while he knew a lot about weather foretelling from the prediction side , he recognise the gaps that stay on the consumption side when he bulge work toward his original ’s license in 2011 .
“ I learned a mass about weather foretelling from a user perspective , ” Fengler tell TechCrunch . “ It ’s , of path , much different than look to the weather prognosis as a mathematician and minimise error measuring rod . But sitting at an airstrip and you ca n’t fly because of fog or a bad prognosis , that was quite oculus orifice . ”
Fengler decide to launch a weather company of his own , and started Meteomatics in 2012 . The St. Gallen , Switzerland - based party pulls weather information from more than 110 sources in addition to pull together data point from its own self-directed weather drones . This combination of information sources allows Meteomatics to update its weather forecasts every hour and make exact prognostication for areas as modest as one hearty km .
Meteomaticsputs all that data into one place and built an API on top of it so its customers can use the data how they see primed , including running their own AI algorithms on top of it . Fengler , CEO , added that the fact that Meteomatics translates atmospheric condition information into one uniform structure seems elementary but is a feat of its own .
“ It was handle with complicated large files , data formats that are very specific to these industry , there is petty criterion around that , ” Fengler said . “ bring APIs to this manufacture was like bringing the light to the unsighted . ”
Fengler sound out this focusing on building a conditions companionship aimed at enterprises , or the commercial sphere in general , set it apart from most weather companies because many are focused on one area and one interview .
“ Most weather companies have a focal point on the media industry and I did n’t like that , ” Fengler say . “ It ’s very much about television and radiocommunication , but there ’s a immense demand from industry , and I was always intrigued by the topics those customer are deal with . ”
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Meteomatics now work with more than 600 customers , include large enterprises like Tesla , CVS Health , and Swiss Re , among others . Fengler added that while some go-ahead employ cases for Meteomatics are more obvious , like a renewable energy fellowship using atmospheric condition information to prognosticate result from their wind or solar farms , others are less so , and Fengler said he learns of a new enterprise use of goods and services cases for weather datum almost every week .
Enterprises will likely increasingly look for this kind of datum too as the impacts of climate change preserve to get more acute . Climate catastrophe be $ 150 billion a twelvemonth , in the U.S. alone , with businesses shouldering a percentage of those costs .
Meteomatics just raised a $ 22 million Series C round lead by Armira Growth with participation from Alantra ’s muscularity transition fund , Klima , and FortyOne Group , among others . Fengler read that the company has intentionally reinvested the money it ’s made back into the business over its 12 - class history which has allowed the inauguration to avoid raising a ton of uppercase .
Fengler tot that they usually elicit a new round when they are looking to put money toward a specific project or enterprise . This Series C round is no different , as the companionship plans to use the chapiter to work on its U.S. enlargement by hiring a sales and marketing team focused on the neighborhood .
Some of the money from the cycle will also be put toward building out the company ’s technical school . Fengler ’s grand vision is to bring preciseness weather , define as down to a one - square kilometer range , to the whole earth . This level of specificity is currently available across Europe and should be available in the U.S. by the end of Q1 .
“ That remain the North Star for Meteomatics , ” Fengler said . “ It make me get up in the sunrise . I strongly think that we will be able to return a global one - kilometer model one day . ”
