Monsanto Growth Ventures, a subsidiary of agribusiness Monsanto, co-led a $7.5m series A round for US-based weather sensor technology developer Understory on Friday with venture capital fund 4490 Ventures.
VC firms True Ventures, RRE Ventures, SK Ventures and CSA Partners also participated in the round.
Understory has built a weather detection system that detects weather data at ground level, as opposed to traditional radar-based systems that work at atmospheric level. It provides hyperlocal weather reports in real-time, communicating data through graphical views of weather movement.
The company has installed its weather-sensing networks in Kansas City, Boston and Dallas, where they have been used to track the effects of major storm systems, and plans to add more US cities this year.
Kiersten Stead, venture principal for Monsanto Growth Ventures, said: “Monsanto is deeply committed to supporting small companies who are working on technologies that could be used to augment the grower’s ability to better manage their farms. Hyperlocal weather measurements are a key part of this innovation stack.”
Understory graduated from the Gener8tor and Bolt accelerators in 2012 and 2013 respectively, before pulling in $1.9m from True Ventures, RRE Ventures, SK Ventures, Vegas Tech Fund and Andrew C. Payne in a 2014 seed round.