Overstory Closes $43m Series B To Scale AI-Driven Wildfire Prevention And Grid Resilience
Overstory, the leader in vegetation intelligence for the utility industry, today announced $43M in Series B funding. The round was led by Blume Equity, with participation from Energy Impact Partners LP (“EIP”) and existing investors including B Capital, Semapa Next, Pale Blue Dot, CapitalT, Convective Capital, Bentley Systems, MCJ and Moxxie Ventures. The company will use the funding to accelerate development of its AI-based risk models, advance its wildfire prevention offering, and expand globally.
For utilities, vegetation is not only the leading cause of outages and wildfires, but often the single largest operational expense. In recent years, tree mortality, labor costs, demand and extreme weather events have all increased, driving utilities to find new ways to sharpen how they manage vegetation to build more resilience and reliability. Overstory uses high-resolution satellite data and AI to help utilities pinpoint risks tree by tree – reducing outages, preventing wildfires, and ensuring power remains safe, reliable, and affordable.
“Innovation and technology have become the pillars of progress when it comes to wildfire prevention. Satellite data, AI and the vegetation-management intelligence we get from companies like Overstory are transforming how utilities think about wildfire prevention. The details are in the data, and that precision allows us to deploy our crews where wildfire risk is greatest.
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“The companies that will drive the greatest impact on our planet are those that deliver climate solutions with real economic value. Overstory exemplifies this — transforming satellite data into actionable insights that help utilities both prevent climate-related disasters and drive operational efficiencies. Their customer-first approach and leadership in AI has enabled them to develop cutting-edge, yet highly practical, solutions that deliver a tangible return on investment. This is exactly the kind of scalable, high impact climate solution we’re proud to support at Blume Equity.”
The funding follows seven years of catalytic growth, with Overstory now serving six of the ten largest utilities across the Americas. The team has grown to more than 80 people, representing 16 nationalities and spanning disciplines from machine learning and data science to arborists and wildfire experts. Guiding the company’s next phase will be its new Chief Operating Officer, Tamara Mendelsohn. A seasoned operator and former Eventbrite CMO, Mendelsohn brings experience in scaling a company from seed stage to IPO.
“Utilities are at a pivotal moment, facing more extreme weather events every year. Overstory is tackling this challenge in a way that utilities can act on immediately, making sense of satellite data to spot the exact tree to trim, pole to clear, or asset to replace.
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Expanding Wildfire Intelligence To Prevent Catastrophic Fires Before They Start
Overstory has built its reputation helping utilities identify vegetation that could cause outages and sparks. Today, the company launched the next evolution of its Wildfire Intelligence product, now backed by its proprietary, industry-first Fuel Detection Model. The technology helps utilities pinpoint areas across their network that contain the highest risk fuels, where a spark is most likely to ignite and spread. Unlike publicly available fire risk maps commonly used today, Overstory’s AI-backed tools recommend the exact locations and actions that will have an outsized impact on wildfire mitigation.
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Utilities are on the front lines of keeping communities safe, and they’re eager to use the best data available. When we talk about how satellites and remote sensing can identify dying trees and wildfire risk, they lean in. We’re grateful to our forward-thinking investors for supporting this next chapter – expanding our intelligence product to address storms and wildfires to help utilities build a more resilient and reliable grid.”
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Special thanks to Lauren Rosenthal at Bloomberg for sharing the news!
