Amsterdam-based Overstory, a global vegetation intelligence platform, announced on Friday that it has secured $5.2M (approximately €5.2M) in a fresh funding round led by Convective Capital.
Other investors include B Capital Group, Semapa Next, Bentley iTwin Ventures, Pale Blue Dot, CapitalT, Moxxie Ventures, Toba Capital, and Climate Capital.
The announcement comes around a year after closing $3.9M ( then approximately €3.3M) in a Seed+ round led by CapitalT and Moxxie Ventures.
Overstory says it will use the funds to expand and accelerate product development.
According to Overstory, vegetation is the single greatest contributor to power outages and wildfires caused by our electric grid. Climate change is altering weather patterns and causing droughts, infestations, and more intense storms, which increase the risk of catastrophic wildfires and power outages caused by improperly managed vegetation.
And that’s what Overstory is trying to solve.
Overstory: What you need to know
Founded by Indra den Bakker, Overstory applies Artificial Intelligence (AI) to high-resolution satellite imagery to provide real-time analytics of natural resources.
The insights offered on the quantity and quality of natural resources help improve decision-making by electric utility companies, forestry companies, and NGOs.
The company’s platform identifies the location, height, health, and species of trees. It then alerts customers where the riskiest trees are and need to be cut down or pruned because they risk growing into or falling onto the power lines.
The Amsterdam-based startup has worked with various clients, including Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative, a US transmission operator. In the last three months, the company signed up with two of the top 10 US utilities and one of Europe’s largest utilities to its portfolio.
Overstory says its customer base’s total transmission and distribution mileage has grown from 36,000 miles to more than 700,000 miles, a 19X increase in less than nine months.
Currently, the company employs around 31 people from 11 nationalities.
“Five out of the nine leaders in our company are female or non-white males, 45 per cent of the overall team identify as female, and 26 per cent of the team are people of colour,” says the company on diversity approach.
“Utilities are a key stakeholder in our collective fight against extreme wildfire, and Overstory’s AI-based solution helps them better focus, prioritise and track their efforts. The company’s breakout growth is a testament to the quality of its product, and we are thrilled to partner with Indra and the team in this next chapter,” says Bill Clerico, Managing Partner at Convective Capital.
01
destream: Building the financial backbone of the creator economy