Weather Forecasting Startup Skymet Raises Debt Funding From Northern Arc And Caspian Impact Investments

Weather forecasting and agriculture risk solutions company, Skymet announced today that it has raised INR 12 Cr debt fund from Northern Arc and Caspian Impact Investments.

The company stated that the funds would be deployed to bolster its ground observation systems and increase accuracy of prediction of floods and cyclones in the Eastern India regions. 

Founded in 2003 by Jatin Singh, Skymet provides weather data services to media houses and also works in the farmers network by offering tech-enabled weather solutions to decrease their risk and in turn increasing their productivity. The company is increasing its focus on using the weather forecasting data for farming and is collaborating with different organizations to supply their needs for weather data so that it can be used for precision farming. 

Yogesh Patil , CEO, Skymet Weather, added, “We are continuously scaling our network and improving our capabilities to help streamline ground observation networks in these trying times and continuously providing our services to various organizations. The amount raised will help a lot in setting up more ground observation units is eastern India which is very much prone to natural calamities like floods, cyclones etc which in turn would help our country to mitigate the risks and provide accurate data to farmers in those areas.”

So far, Skymet has launched a digital platform skAIgeo which allows farmers to enhance crop yield and decrease crop risks. skAIgeo formulated a predictive and prescriptive business intelligence solution for the banking sector that leverages Agri-alternate data for effective credit risk assessment and loan recovery. skAIgeo helps the insurance sector to customise policies or programs after evaluation of crop risk assessment using different indices.

The company stated that it has about 6,500 observation centres that provide real-time data on rainfall, thunder, lightning, and heat. It also aims to increase the size of the network and bring BFSI under insurance, lending as well as weather forecast and management. 

According to a statement by the company, the size of the weather forecasting industry in India is pegged to be around $100 Mn. Additionally, according to Allied Market Research, the need for more accurate prediction has unleashed a wider domain for the global weather forecasting and services market to grow from $1.2 Bn in 2016 to $2.7 Bn by 2023.

India’s agritech market is estimated to reach $24.1 Bn by 2025, as per Inc42 Plus analysis. This sector even experienced growth amidst the pandemic. According to the survey of 67 agritech companies done by Accel-Omnivore, 85% of the surveyed companies witnessed a spike in demand during the lockdown and 51% of the surveyed companies expect to experience more than 50% growth over the last financial year. Examples of popular agritech startups include ninjacart, Urbankisaan , Origo etc.