Good weather forecasting is at the heart of ag, and one Indian company just received a boat-load of funds to make their forecasts even stronger.
Mumbai-based weather forecasting services provider, Skymet, raised $4.5 million for its Series B. Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust, was the lead investor for the round, and previous investor Omnivore Partners also joined the round. Skymet says the funds will be used to expand its weather forecasting system to detect hail and frost, start R&D to improve weather and crop area/yield forecasting, and expand its network into Asia and Africa.
“Skymet helps companies, governments, farmers, and consumers to manage risk from weather and consumers to manage risk from weather and agriculture,” said Jatin Singh, Founder/CEO of Skymet. “We are very excited to have the support of DMGT as we scale up and bring our solutions to a wider audience.”
Founded in 2003, Skymet provides farmers with short-range, medium-range, and seasonal weather forecasts, as well as crop area/yield forecasts, remote sensing, and agricultural insurance product development. They also provided India with its first consumer weather site, http://www.skymetweather.com/.
“It’s been great watching Skymet grow exponentially over the last three years,” said Omnivore Partner’s Mark Khan, “now culminating with investment from DMGT. We see Skymet delivering tremendous value to India’s agricultural sector in the coming years.”
Come August 20th, Skymet will re-launch its website to target consumers across Asia and Africa, providing weather forecasts in seven languages, including Hindi and Marathi.
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FEATURED PHOTO: David DeHetre/Flickr
