Rhizome Secures $2.5 Million in Funding for Climate Risk Software

Rhizome is building AI-powered software at the intersection of climate risk and the power grid.

Oct 24, 2023

Rhizome, a software company aiding utilities in managing climate-related risks, has raised $2.5 million, marking its official launch. This funding is of particular significance due to the pressing challenges utilities face in the wake of increasingly extreme weather events and surging demand for clean electricity. Investors in the seed round included Looking Glass, Intelis Capital, Jetstream, El Cap, Streetlife, Everywhere, and Stepchange. Rhizome intends to allocate these funds to expand its software, designed to process data on extreme weather events and assist utilities in predicting their impact on the power grid's resiliency.

The company, co-founded by Mishal Thadani and Rahul Dubey is already in collaboration with notable utilities like Seattle City Light and Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO), with the latter leveraging Rhizome's AI models to inform crucial grid planning decisions, such as infrastructure expansion and load management during peak cold weather months. The broader context reveals that the power grid, historically underfunded, is finally receiving overdue resiliency enhancements. This is pivotal for achieving climate objectives, especially as electric vehicle adoption and the shift toward cleaner energy sources gain momentum. Simultaneously, utilities across the United States are grappling with the disruptive consequences of extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, underscoring the significance of Rhizome's software in bolstering the sector's resilience.