Overstory – a climate tech startup that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to mitigate wildfires, protect biodiversity, and help industries make smarter decisions about natural resources – recently announced that it has raised $14 million in Series A financing. The funding round was led by B Capital, with participation from The Nature Conservancy, and other top climate-minded investors. The latest funding round Overstory’s total funding is $25 million.
The new funding round will accelerate the company’s development of its global vegetation intelligence platform, which provides insights about the location, size, health, and species of any tree on Earth. And the improperly maintained vegetation is a major contributor to both power outages and some of the most devastating wildfires.
Overstory’s initial focus is to provide electric utility companies with visibility, risk analysis, and optimization recommendations for vegetation management by applying artificial intelligence to satellite imagery.
Considering July 2023 was the world’s hottest month on record and damaging wildfires raging from Maui to Greece, Overstory’s mission is more important than ever before.
Launched just over five years ago, Overstory is a world leader in the field of AI-based solutions for utilities, counting three of the top five utilities in the US as customers, including PG&E in California, as well as top utilities in Canada, Brazil and Europe. And the company’s algorithms have been developed in partnership with arborists and forestry professionals.
KEY QUOTES:
“Because the specialized AI that we developed integrates with existing data and workflows, our utility customers can immediately spot the areas along their power lines where there are risks of wildfires and outages. We are grateful for the partnership with our investors and look forward to furthering our mission to combat the climate crisis.”
— Indra den Bakker, CEO and Co-founder, Overstory
“Utility companies now have an acute problem with the confluence of catastrophic wildfires, extreme weather, power outages and a changing climate. This has forced these providers to adjust the way they work and ultimately take a more data-driven approach. We are proud to partner with the incredible team at Overstory and support their work to leverage AI and create a safer, more reliable grid.”
— Karen Page, General Partner at B Capital
