Jupiter Launches Climate Data, Analytics and Technology Platform

More than $100 trillion dollars in global assets are endangered by extreme weather and climate change, yet there is no commonly accepted method for quantifying that risk and its potential economic impact. Today, Jupiter (www.jupiterintel.com) launched a transformative cloud-based technology platform to address that gap. Jupiter’s ClimateScore™ platform enables decision makers to confidently predict and manage risk caused by severe weather and medium- to long-term climate change at a hyper-local level. Jupiter’s cloud platform ingests and makes physics-based and AI-powered decisions on petabytes of data from millions of ground-based and orbital sensors.

Jupiter’s proprietary ClimateScore Intelligence Platform provides sophisticated, dynamic, hyper-local data analysis at street-by-street or individual building resolution, including the most accurate weather and climate predictions currently available. Predictions range from two hours to fifty years into the future. This month, the company will launch its new FloodScore™and HeatScore™ services to better predict and manage risks related to weather and temperature changes, sea-level rise and storm intensification associated with climate change. Jupiter is already working closely with property developers, critical infrastructure, the public sector and insurance companies.

“Too many industries and decision makers are currently relying on outdated risk models, which statistically extrapolate from historical events rather than using the latest models developed by the global atmospheric and ocean science communities,” said Rich Sorkin, CEO and Co-founder of Jupiter. “Jupiter’s technology is built to address the growing need to understand and quantify risk using the latest science and data. It applies the newest technologies, such as automated machine learning, to the vast array of available data sources, including commercial satellites, aircraft, drone, and various sensors on land and in water.”

In addition to the expertise of its successful and seasoned executive leadership team, Jupiter relies on an award-winning group of full-time domain experts. The team includes climatologist Dr. Betsy Weatherhead, who provided statistical expertise to the Nobel-prize winning work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and who was also lead author of the first international assessment of Arctic climate change.

Jupiter’s team also includes world-renowned urban oceanographer Dr. Alan Blumberg, whose group built the short-term flood prediction system used on a daily basis by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and New Jersey Transit to protect their critical assets. Dr. Blumberg also led the development of the Princeton Ocean Model, currently used by over 5700 research and commercial entities in 70 countries around the world, as well as in daily use in New York Harbor, and throughout the waters of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Jupiter advisors include U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change and Chief Negotiator of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement Todd Stern, and former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Neal Wolin, who also was President of the Hartford’s property and casualty companies.

Jupiter’s approach to climate prediction is more flexible, agile and relevant to addressing climate change risks than any method currently in use. The Jupiter technology delivers multiple critical differentiators:

• Asset-Specific Predictions: Jupiter’s ClimateScore platform provides a complete picture down to the most hyper-local (street-by-street or individual building) resolution levels, enabling more practical risk assessment and better decision making.
• Dynamic Climate Assessments: While current models of risk assessment and management assume an unchanging climate (commonly referred to as the “stationarity” assumption), Jupiter factors in expectations of a changing climate, which adjusts dynamically based on the most current data. This approach relies on current science and observations rather than historical data alone.
• State-of-the-Art Modeling: Jupiter continuously fine-tunes its models, using the latest data from satellites and sensors rather than relying on one-time climate studies. Jupiter’s Earth and Ocean Systems experts quickly and routinely adjust input assumptions or variables to create up-to-date models that provide the best possible predictions with known information, even as the science and observations evolve.
• Verification and Validation Metrics: Jupiter’s platform includes verification and validation modules, generating the data that drives confidence among financial services users who rigorously assess the statistical strength of these models.

Public and private sector customers and other asset owners can use Jupiter’s solutions for applications ranging from site selection, determining design requirements, risk assessments, adaptation investments, supply chain management, insurance underwriting and risk analytics, investment valuations and shareholder disclosures. Risk analytics can be delivered through an API, interactive maps, reports, or via custom consulting. Analyses are available at regional, national, metropolitan, street-by-street and individual building resolution levels.

Jupiter’s approach to climate-related risk assessment and management deeply resonated in Silicon Valley’s investment community. DCVC (Data Collective) led the seed round in April 2017 and Jupiter quickly added to those resources with over $8 million in Series A funding led by Ignition Partners and joined by DCVC, bringing total investments in the company to approximately $10 million. Along with university partners, the company leads the containerization work in the NSF-funded Big Weather Web project conceived by Jupiter’s founders.

“Businesses can’t predict and manage weather-driven risk given today’s rapidly changing weather patterns and infrastructure. Today’s solutions only quantify impact after the fact,” said Nick Sturiale, Managing Partner at Ignition Partners and Jupiter Board member. “Jupiter will change that by combining twenty-first-century climatology and hydroscience with cutting-edge data analytics for risk management. Rich and his impressive team are building a game-changing solution for a market in desperate need. It’s a big vision, and these are the guys to do it.”

Matt Ocko, Managing Partner of DCVC and Jupiter Board member added, “Delivering AI-driven clarity on climate risk for the world’s largest companies, and for entire populations, down to a city block, is an incredibly demanding task that takes an elite team. We’ve invested in and with Rich Sorkin for over 20 years. He excels in driving team building, technology development and business results, combined with a remarkable level of one-phone-call credibility with F500 C-suites. We’ve also previously backed every one of the other members of this all-star management team, which not surprisingly has already outperformed expectations in its first year.”