Flood forecaster Previsico deluged in £2m funding round

A company spun out of Loughborough University four years ago has secured growth capital from a group of early-stage investors, Sky News understands. Growth in the latest quarter is mainly reflecting higher spending on public administration and defence. 

A British start-up which helps to forecast floods more accurately has raised £2m from a syndicate of prominent investors.

Sky News understands Previsico, which was spun out of Loughborough University in 2019, has secured the backing at a significant premium to its previous funding round.

The round was led by 24Haymarket, the angel investor network, with additional capital from Foresight Group, an infrastructure and private equity investment manager.

Previsico’s FloodMap Live software is used to work with UK insurers to help customers mitigate potential losses arising from pluvial floods.

It utilises weather data from the Met Office, IoT devices, and advanced flood modelling capabilities to address the global problem of surface water flooding.

Its customers include leading insurance companies such as Zurich and Liberty, as well as companies including Network Rail, National Grid and The Guinness Partnership.

The company has seen growth in demand for its technology amid the increasing frequency of flood events in Britain – a trend that meteorologists expect to accelerate because of the impact of climate change.

David Marock, Previsico chairman, said the funding round represented a “vote of confidence in our vision, which will enable us to build on our success to date here in the UK while also expanding into the US.

“[It] fuels our excitement and commitment to enhancing resilience by predicting and mitigating flood impacts globally,” he said.

Paul Hewitt, investor director at 24Haymarket, said: “Previsico’s flood forecasting technology provides users with early warnings to take preventative action to reduce damage and losses from flood water.

“The value proposition to its customers stretches beyond loss mitigation and importantly reduces the negative social impact of flooding.”