Top investors back ClimateAi to tackle $1.3 trillion in climate risk across supply chains
San Francisco-based ClimateAi, a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence to climate risk modeling, has announced the launch of its Enterprise Climate Planning (ECP) platform.
The ClimateAi ECP platform offers enterprises actionable insights around climate risk, tailored to their supply chains, according to a news release.
The launch coincides with the closing of a $12 million Series A round led by AI-focused Radical Ventures, with participation from Finistere Ventures and Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures to meet mounting market demand for ClimateAi solutions.
Existing investors including Neotribe, AMECloud and ThirdStream Partners also joined the oversubscribed round, which brings ClimateAi’s total funding to date to $16 million, according to the release.
“Adapting to the impacts of climate change is critical to the future of our economy and essential to our future as a species,” Jon Schulhof, cofounder of FootPrint Coalition Ventures, said in the release.
“ClimateAi is a platform that provides long-term insights into weather and climate impacts, providing businesses the information they need today to take the actions needed now to adapt to the climate disruptions of tomorrow. As economies navigate the realities of climate change, the ClimateAi platform brings much-needed resiliency to our fragile global supply chains – from food and agriculture to industrial, energy and beyond.”
Launched by actor, producer, investor and philanthropist Robert Downey, Jr. in 2021, FootPrint Coalition Ventures’ mission is to accelerate groundbreaking technologies that are addressing the world’s largest environmental challenges, via a unique rolling fund model in partnership with AngelList, according to the release.
With ClimateAi, customers can optimize supply chain operations - production planning, demand estimation, and inventory management - and improve strategic supply chain planning to minimize climate risk exposure and identify new locations for climate-smart expansions for specific crops and ingredients, the release said.
The release said ClimateAi is the only climate planning platform that can assess climate risk on specific business metrics, properly forecast extreme weather more than two weeks in advance and provide actionable insights across the supply chain or down to a specific asset.
ClimateAi’s vertical SaaS solutions have helped more than 15 processors, producers, seed companies, and agriculture finance leaders substantially improve the profitability and sustainability of their business operations with respect to climate change, according to the release.
“We approached ClimateAi because we’ve seen the impact that climate change has already had on our business, in terms of driving production volatility,” Doran Yonay, global seed production director for Hazera, said in the release. “ClimateAi’s machine learning models link climate forecasts to the metrics we care about: expected inventory size and quality of our offering. We expect our partnership to continue to grow as we focus on adapting to climate change and are readily exploring the potential for ClimateAi’s platform to become the AI-backend of our enterprise.”
According to the CDP, the global supply chain faces $1.26 trillion in environmental risks over the next five years. With global temperatures continuing to climb at alarming rates and the most recent World Meteorological Organization forecast expecting more erratic weather and yet another “warmest year on record” to hit by 2025, record-breaking heat, extreme weather events, rising sea levels and other environmental impacts will put a severe strain on critical supply chains if organizations cannot adapt, the release said.
“ClimateAi offers best-in-class extreme weather and climate prediction combined with industry specific operational insights,” Parasvil Patel, partner at Radical Ventures, said in the release. “ClimateAi is a game changer for companies looking to better predict production, supply and demand challenges. With its AI-based solutions, businesses can make operational decisions that adapt to near-term weather changes and long-term climate shifts.”
Accelerating the global rollout of its initial solutions for food and ag companies with the strategic funding, ClimateAi aims to be deployed across half a billion acres of farmlands around the globe within the next three years, the release said.
Based on intense market demand, ClimateAi also plans to expand its platform to support solutions across other industry supply chains with the funding, the release said.
“We’ve reached an inflection point on climate adaptation, and there’s a growing sense of urgency around preparing supply chains to quickly adapt to the impact of climate change,” Himanshu Gupta, CEO of ClimateAi, said in the release. “The pandemic – timed with the hottest year to date – put the focus squarely on the vulnerabilities of our food system infrastructure and supply chains. ClimateAi is already helping major players across the agrifood supply chain better understand, manage and communicate climate risk to improve transparency and increase profitability. Our platform aims to accelerate the transition to climate adaptation across supply chains – similar to what Fairtrade did to responsible sourcing. In the future, we plan to launch the world’s first climate resilience rating scheme for supply chains based on the data gathered by our platform and the trust we have built with our customers and partners.”
