WindBorne Raises $37 Million to Expand AI Weather Forecasting Business

WindBorne Systems has raised a $37 million Series B funding round as the weather technology startup looks to expand its artificial intelligence forecasting platform and grow its commercial business beyond government customers.

The round was co-led by Khosla Ventures and Galvanise, with participation from Translink Capital, Lux Capital and existing investors. The financing values the company at approximately $250 million.

Founded in 2019, WindBorne initially focused on collecting atmospheric data using long-endurance weather balloons equipped with low-cost sensors. The emergence of AI-powered weather forecasting over the past several years has transformed the company’s business by allowing it to build its own forecasting models without relying on the supercomputers that previously dominated atmospheric simulations.

Chief Executive Officer John Dean said the company now operates around 20 launch sites worldwide and keeps roughly 600 balloons in the air at any given time. Those balloons collect weather observations from locations that are often difficult to measure, including inside the eye of a typhoon. WindBorne is also beginning to deploy aerial sensor packages that fall into the ocean and continue gathering data as floating buoys.

Building a proprietary weather network

Dean describes the company’s growing network of sensors as a “planetary nervous system.” The proprietary dataset collected by WindBorne’s balloons is combined with weather information from government agencies around the world to improve the company’s forecasting models.

According to Dean, the company has demonstrated that incorporating balloon observations produces more accurate weather forecasts and delivers greater value per data point than satellite-based observations in certain situations. He added that WindBorne has continued increasing revenue while expanding its data collection network, helping demonstrate commercial demand for the technology.

Government customers provide early momentum.

Government agencies remainWindBorne’ss largest customers. The U.S. National Weather Service purchases the company’s weather data, while the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy are funding research partnerships, including efforts to develop forecasting systems capable of operating aboard ships even when internet connectivity is limited.

The latest investment will also support upgrades to the company’s infrastructure, including replacing satellite communications used by its balloon fleet with a mesh radio network and expanding computing resources needed to power its AI models.

Commercial expansion is the next goal.

WindBorne now plans to accelerate growth in the private sector by expanding its go-to-market team. One of its primary commercial targets is investment firms that use weather forecasts to predict commodity prices and other business outcomes.

Breaking into commercial markets has historically been challenging for weather technology companies. Although many startups have developed innovative sensing platforms, extracting business value from weather data often requires specialised expertise and established operational workflows. As a result, many have relied primarily on government customers.

Dean believes advances in artificial intelligence are changing that equation by making sophisticated forecasting more accessible. Galvanise partner Saloni Multani, who co-led the investment, said AI not only improves forecast quality but also makes it easier for businesses to integrate weather intelligence into everyday decision-making, potentially opening significantly larger commercial opportunities for companies such as WindBorne.