ImpactAlpha, March 5 – Data analytics company Jupiter Intelligence works with public sector agencies and private companies in real estate, insurance, energy and infrastructure to help them assess and plan for climate-related risks. The company has secured $23 million in Series B funding backed by energy-focused investment firm Energize Ventures, impact investor SYSTEMIQ, and insurance firms QBE, Mitsui MS&AD and Nephila.
Jupiter was launched in 2016 with roots in an earlier business co-founders Rich Sorkin and Eric Wun started to predict weather patterns for commodities traders, TechCrunch reports. That business, called Zeus, never fully took off. Jupiter is more robust than that original idea, using global climate models as the basis for estimating potential damages from severe weather incidents, intensifying storms and rising sea levels and temperatures.
Jupiter can make predictions at the asset level—“at the loading dock of a warehouse or a transmission box or a hotel on the beach, we determine the actual expected risk in a form that the insurance industry or the risk manager at an organization can use and integrate into their plans,” Sorkin told TechCrunch.
The Bay Area-based company’s software is in use in New York City, South Florida, Houston and Europe for a range of issues including infrastructure site selection, design, and supply chain management, as well as capital planning, risk management, investment valuations and shareholder disclosures.
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In a statement, Jupiter’s investors noted growing demand among public and private sector actors for tools to help them anticipate and manage climate risk. “Driven by the growth of extreme weather events, our critical infrastructure partners are now proactively seeking highly tailored and actionable resiliency management technology solutions,” Energize Ventures’ John Tough said.
Jupiter plans to use the Series B funding to expand geographically and add new climate perils to its model.
