SB Energy Invests in ClimaCell to Accelerate Deployment of its Revolutionary Weather Forecasting System
TOKYO and BOSTON: SB Energy Corp. (“SB Energy”), a Japanese wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., and ClimaCell Inc. (“ClimaCell”), the microweatherTM technology company, announced today that they have closed on SB Energy’s investment $7 million in ClimaCell.
ClimaCell uses the infrastructure of the connected world — wireless signals, connected vehicles, satellite-to-ground microwave signals, street cameras, IoT devices, airplanes and drones — together with traditional meteorological data sources, to provide accurate, real-time, location-specific, and on-demand weather forecasts to any industry with a need for hyper-accurate forecasting. The company’s forecasts can also be used in developing and other countries that have insufficient infrastructure.
SB Energy has invested in ClimaCell to bring its weather forecasting system to the renewable energy industry, which is highly dependent on weather and accurate forecasting. SB Energy will also explore new business opportunities globally by deploying ClimaCell’s weather forecasting systems especially at the intersection of renewable energy, IoT and mobility.
“ClimaCell’s revolutionary hyper-accurate weather forecasting technology will bring significant benefits not only to renewable energy but also to other industries and people’s lives,” said Shigeki Miwa, Representative Director & CEO of SB Energy Corp. “SB Energy is extremely happy to collaborate with ClimaCell in promoting the fusion of energy and AI and helping realize a more convenient and comfortable society.”
“We are delighted to have SB Energy as an investor and strategic partner. Energy companies, particularly those dealing in renewable energies, are particularly dependent on weather predictions – from wind speed to precipitation times – for ongoing operations, with a massive impact on their bottom line,” said Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and Founder of ClimaCell Inc. “We are excited to be partnering with SB Energy to expand and accelerate our offering to the energy sector.”
About ClimaCell:
ClimaCell revolutionizes traditional weather forecasting with new microweather information. ClimaCell is proud to help the world outsmart weather and aims to keep people safety in a volatile climate. Using millions of new observation points from wireless and IoT networks, ClimaCell’s big weather data also provides resilience to emerging technology integrations and blue-chip customers from a cross-section of the global economy. With a different, multi-layered approach and a world-class atmospheric science and data science team, ClimaCell helps people power better outcomes in the face of weather.
About SB Energy:
SB Energy is a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. and one of the leading renewable energy companies in Japan. As of April 2019, it had over 442.7MW of power in operation with 37 plants (equivalent power needed to supply approximately 138,659 households) in Japan and 50MW of wind power generation in Gobi Desert, Mongolia. SB Energy is aiming to spread and expand the adoption of renewable energy derived from natural sources, such as large-scale solar power generation (Mega Solar) and wind power generation.
Source: ClimaCell
