The weather-data startup is using balloon-collected observations and AI forecasting models to broaden its business beyond government users, after a financing led by Khosla Ventures and Galvanize.
WindBorne Systems has raised a $37 million Series B round at a post-money valuation of $250 million, with Khosla Ventures and Galvanize co-leading the financing as the company expands its AI-driven weather forecasting business. The company primarily serves government agencies and uses long-endurance balloons to collect atmospheric data that feeds into forecasting models. It operates 20 launch sites globally and keeps about 600 balloons in the air. Founded in 2019, WindBorne built its business around low-cost sensors carried by endurance balloons, producing proprietary observations from hard-to-reach areas such as the eye of a typhoon. It combines that data with datasets from government weather agencies, and the company says adding balloon observations improves forecast accuracy. The startup is also beginning to deploy aerial sensor packages that can drop into the ocean and continue collecting measurements as floating buoys. Its current customer base is led by government users, including the U.S. National Weather Service, while the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy fund work through research partnerships. WindBorne has said the new capital will go toward compute, replacing satellite communications in its balloon network with a mesh radio network, and expanding its go-to-market team as it targets more private-sector customers such as investment funds.