Understory, the weather network and analytics company, recently announced that it has secured $7.5 million in additional funding, led by 4490 Ventures. A new investor in the current round is Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, the DC-based investment firm founded by former CEO of AOL (News - Alert), Steve Case. Funds will be leveraged to expand Understory’s presence in the international agriculture market.
“Understory is powering innovation in weather data infrastructure with its sensor networks and on-the-ground insights,” said Steve Case, Chairman and CEO, Revolution (News - Alert). Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund invests in high-growth companies that, like Understory, are scaling outside of the coastal tech hubs. “We look forward to seeing how Understory continues to leverage regional expertise and talent to redefine real-time weather information for insurance, agriculture, academics, utility companies, and more.”
The injection of venture capital comes on the heels of Understory’s recent expansion into South America in partnership with Bayer (through the former Monsanto), being named as one of Forbes’ 25 Most Innovative AgTech Startups in 2018, and their co-founder and VP of Engineering being named as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 within Manufacturing.
“Understory represents innovation at its finest,” said Greg Robinson, managing director, 4490 Ventures. “The technology developed by Understory has real potential to redefine multi-billion dollar markets while empowering environmental efficiencies that impact our global food supply. That’s a winning combination we are proud to be investing in over the long-term.”
Understory has deployed more than 500 stations throughout five major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and plans to expand nationally to 5,000 sensors by the end of 2019. Its international presence was kicked off through a partnership with Monsanto, now Bayer, to deploy weather stations in South America to measure rainfall, temperature, humidity, evapotranspiration (moisture leaving plant), and growing degree units (where a plant is in its lifecycle to determine best harvesting time), to inform decisions around irrigation, harvest dates and times, and seed production.
“We at Bayer have seen the value that Understory provides to growers, using technology that adds a layer of hyper-local weather information in rural farming areas where local weather information is not as accurate,” said Jürgen Eckhardt, interim head, Bayer Growth Ventures. “We are eager to see how the company’s expansion can further enrich localized weather insights.”