Israeli-Founded Weather Intelligence Startup ClimaCell Raises $23M

US-based weather intelligence startup ClimaCell, created by Israeli founders, announced on Tuesday that it raised $23 million in Series C funding. Pitango Growth and existing investor Square Peg Capital co-led the investment round.

ClimaCell automates operational decisions and action plans based on how historic, real-time, and future weather will impact businesses. It produces hyper-local weather forecasts using vast quantities of traditional and non-traditional data and targets weather-sensitive industries. Its data-gathering methods include IoT devices, drones, cellular signals, sat com signals, and street cameras.

The solution helps customers “save millions in operational efficiency, improve safety, and avoid significant costs and damages from weather events,” ClimaCell says.

Founded in 2016, the company is based in Boston and has more than 150 corporate clients. These include Delta, JetBlue, the New England Patriots, and ride-sharing, Israeli-founded startup Via.

ClimaCell said in a statement that it will use the new funding to “accelerate strategic initiatives.”

“ClimaCell is taking the next step in disrupting the weather industry by providing the most valuable and actionable weather intelligence to our customers,” said Shimon Elkabetz, co-founder and CEO of ClimaCell.

“65 percent of the world’s GDP is being impacted by weather events,” said Aaron Mankovski, managing general partner at Pitango Growth. “Climacell is the only SaaS company that enables actionable items ahead of weather events rather than reacting to them and their implications and ramifications.”

“The opportunities coming to ClimaCell across industries including supply chain and logistics, railroads, trucking, shipping, on-demand, energy, insurance, and more represent a complete upending of the existing competitive landscape…,” he added.

Earlier this year, New York-based research firm CB Insights named ClimaCell among eight Israeli-founded companies in the annual AI 100 finalists. US business magazine Fast Company also named ClimaCell among the “most innovative” firms in 2020 , alongside 13 other Israeli companies.

Earlier this month, ClimaCell signed an agreement with Israeli agriculture startup SupPlant to supply meaningful irrigation insights for farmers.