Understory weathers storm for $5.3m

US-based weather information and analytics service Understory on Thursday completed a $5.3m series B round backed by 4490 Ventures, the VC firm co-founded by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s commercialisation arm, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (Warf).
The deal, led by venture firm True Ventures, also included Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.
Founded in 2012 as Winstruments, Understory runs an artificial intelligence-powered weather forecasting and intelligence platform that translates more than 100,000 data points from some 600 weather stations into meteorological and crop data metrics such as temperature, humidity and air quality.
The company, which currently has weather stations in the US and South America, will use the funding to pursue international expansion in industries including agriculture, insurance and air quality, with the introduction of its technology in 10 new cities around the world.
Proceeds will also support Understory’s ability to grow its headcount and prepare for the opening of its new headquarters.
The round brought its funding total to approximately $37.4m, according to regulatory filings and press releases.
4490 Ventures led a $7.5m round in November 2018 backed by Revolution’s Rise of the Seed Fund, after co-leading a series A also sized at $7.5m two years previously featuring what was then known as Monsanto Growth Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of agrichemical producer Monsanto, now part of life sciences and chemicals firm Bayer.
CSA Partners, True Ventures, RRE Ventures and SK Ventures also supplied Understory with series A cash, adding to $1.9m of seed capital provided in a 2014 round led by True Ventures with contributions from RRE, Vegas Tech Fund, SK Ventures and angel investor Andrew Payne.
Understory also received $18,000 and $50,000 in funding respectively from startup accelerators Gener8tor and Bolt at undisclosed dates.