Weather predictions are notoriously fickle, but that hasn't spooked The Climate Corp. (formerly WeatherBill), which has created what is, in effect, an agricultural insurance policy that protects farmers from the impact of extreme weather.
The potential for The Climate Corp.'s service also has intrigued venture capitalists, which last week poured another $50 million of founding into the company, for the explicit purpose of hiring more than 50 quantitative researchers, data scientists and software engineers. In short, The Climate Corp. is seeking more people with expertise in Big Data.
The Climate Corp. sells something called Total Weather Insurance, which pays local farmers when they are impacted by weather events that affect their profits. The company uses a massive cloud-driven data analytics service to predict the possibility of extreme weather, along with the potential impact. It prices its insurance policies accordingly based on that information.
The new venture capital follows the $42 million the company raised about 16 months ago and brings the total invested in The Climate Corp. to more than $110 million.
The Climate Corp.'s funders include Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Atomico, Glynn Capital and Western Technology Investment.
Noted Brian Singerman, partner at Founders Fund:
"The Climate Corp. redefines the economics of global agriculture with software. There is nothing easy about what they are doing -- nothing less than simulate the weather on a hyper-local basis and codifying the precise relationship between weather events and the outcome of a farmer's operation. It will transform the economics of agriculture, making farming and the global food supply more secure in the face of climate change."
Claims supported by The Climate Corp. are paid out automatically, based on measured weather conditions.