Earthmover wants to become the Snowflake of weather and geospatial data

In an age where data generation from Earth observation is immense, Ryan Abernathey and Joe Hamman recognized that their startup, Earthmover, needed to adapt its approach to thrive. While still rooted in climate technology, the company has shifted its focus to the immediate impacts of climate—specifically, the weather. "What defines a compelling use case for our platform is data that changes frequently," said Abernathey, co-founder and CEO of Earthmover, in an interview with TechCrunch. He highlighted the urgency around real-time data applications, which span weather forecasts, fire monitoring, and rapid observations. Although broader climate data is essential, it often lacks the immediacy needed for urgent decision-making. Earthmover's primary offering is its robust data structure designed to manage large and intricate data sets. Abernathey explained the terminology surrounding this technology: "In geospatial, it’s termed a raster; in AI, it’s called a tensor; and in classic Fortran, it’s simply an array." Additionally, the startup has developed a suite of tools aimed at helping clients derive valuable insights from their data. The strategic pivot has proven successful, enabling Earthmover to secure over ten paying clients and complete a $7.2 million seed funding round, which was disclosed exclusively to TechCrunch. The investment round was led by Lowercarbon Capital, with backing from Costanoa Ventures and Preston-Werner Ventures. The funds are earmarked for enhancing their data storage platform with new tools. Built on open-source software such as Xarray, Pangeo, and Icechunk, Earthmover operates across major cloud platforms including Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, as well as on-premises servers. Both Abernathey and Hamman have strong connections to the open-source community, having contributed to Pangeo and Xarray. The decision to leverage open-source technology was not only based on their expertise but also on practical business considerations. Abernathey noted that reliance on open-source projects can provide customers with assurance. "For large multinational companies, the risk of depending on a startup is significant," he explained. "Using open-source tools mitigates that risk because clients retain control of their data, regardless of our company’s future." Among Earthmover’s clients is Kettle, an insurance startup utilizing the platform to evaluate wildfire risks, and RWE, a major German energy corporation. Abernathey pointed out that companies in the renewable sector, which are often affected by unpredictable weather, rely on Earthmover’s solutions to better forecast their supply and demand needs. The overarching aim is to democratize access to weather and geospatial data, as Hamman emphasized, "If you're on a trading desk, you want to visualize the latest forecasts on a dashboard, not through a complex Python script."