As more wildfires are recorded across the world in recent times, several startups are coming up with AI to address the global wildfire crisis. Recently, Dryad, which uses solar-powered sensors, raised €10.5M to detect wildfires.
Now, Pano AI, which offers a fully-managed solution for active wildfire detection using AI, has secured $20 million in Series A funding. The investment round was led by Initialized Capital. Also, Kim-Mai Cutler, partner at Initialized Capital, joined the company’s board.
The round saw participation from Congruent Ventures, Convective Capital, DCVC, January Ventures, Quiet Capital, Kevin Mahaffey (Founder of Lookout), Jade van Doren (former CEO of AllTrails), Mark Leslie (former CEO of Veritas Software) and Oleg Rogynskyy (Founder of People.ai). Prior investors include Sytse Sijbrandij (CEO of Gitlab), Zac Bookman (CEO of OpenGov), Drew Uher (CEO of Homelight), and Joe Thomas (CEO of Loom).
AI-based rapid wildfire detection
Pano AI will use the funding to continue advancing its AI-based approach to rapid wildfire detection, transforming how fire agencies respond to new ignitions and prevent catastrophic wildfires. The funding will also support talent acquisition and facilitate Pano AI’s market expansion across additional high fire-risk areas within North America and Australia to safeguard lives, communities, and the environment from the increasing threat of wildfires.
Kim-Mai Cutler said: “We’ve seen the real-life impacts of climate change across the globe as increasingly severe wildfires cause widespread devastation. Pano AI’s solution combines existing hardware with computer vision in a way that can be quickly implemented and scaled, meaning we can begin to mitigate and prevent deadly wildfires today.”
Sonia Kastner, CEO, and founder of Pano AI, said: “This investment will accelerate the geographical breadth of Pano’s AI solution, enabling us to safeguard more communities from these climate caused emergencies. We are grateful for the support of our investors at this critical time, as we face increasingly dangerous fire seasons around the world.”
Offers AI-powered disaster preparedness
Pano AI was founded by Sonia Kastner in 2019 in the US. The female-led startup offers hardware and software solutions solely for firefighters. It helps fire professionals to detect threats and respond faster. The startup uses deep learning AI and computer vision to automatically detect, verify and classify wildfire events in real time.
Pano AI offers the first fully-managed solution that combines advanced hardware, artificial intelligence, and easy-to-use cloud-based software to provide fire agencies with actionable intelligence and up-to-the minute situational awareness.
The company provides fire agencies with real-time actionable intelligence and situational awareness to coordinate an informed rapid response to wildfires before they escalate, safeguarding lives, communities, and the environment.
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