Israeli-founded Tomorrow.io, a weather intelligence platform, said Wednesday that it has secured $175 million in fresh capital to launch the next generation of weather-monitoring satellites into space to forecast where storm clouds are gathering as well as help businesses and countries manage fast-evolving climate threats.

The funding round, led by private equity firms Stonecourt Capital and HarbourVest, gives the company a valuation of over $1 billion. It takes Tomorrow.io’s total funding to more than $500 million.

Billing itself as the SpaceX of weather, Tomorrow.io’s bold endeavor is to tackle the decades-old challenge of getting weather forecasts right as extreme weather events are ranked as the top long-term risk, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum. In 2024, natural disasters wiped $320 billion from the global economy, with weather and climate change-related catastrophes, such as floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and tropical cyclones, responsible for 93% of overall damages.

Formerly known as ClimaCell, Tomorrow.io was founded in 2016 by Israeli Air Force veterans Shimon Elkabetz, Rei Goffer, and Itai Zlotnik. The three founders teamed up to develop weather forecasting intelligence software and observation solutions that go beyond traditional meteorological systems, and rely on a patchwork of ground-based radars and stations.

Speaking to The Times of Israel, Goffer said they soon realized that the availability and quality of existing public data to observe the planet are the main limiting factors for accurate weather forecasting, constraining emergency preparedness and disaster response.

“There are roughly 100 hurricanes or tropical cyclones a year globally and we still........

© The Times of Israel