Skymet in talks to raise up to $20 mn from PE funds to expand services

A woman signals for a bus to stop as she walks under an umbrella during rainfall (REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee)

Weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services Pvt Ltd is looking to raise up to $20 mln from private equity investors to expand its services, according to a source familiar with the development.

"The company has a pre-funding valuation of Rs. 200 crores. The fresh funding is expected to take it higher," the source said.

Skymet is currently backed by venture fund Omnivore Partners and DMGI, a global B2B information company.

Skymet is the only weather forecast services provider in the private sector in India, competing against the state-owned Indian Meteorological Department.

The company has recently expanded to provide services in eight languages. It plans to add more languages and take its services to other countries besides starting a weather-focused TV channel in India.

The Noida-based weather monitoring and agri-risk solutions provider has gained credibility in the market in recent years with its accurate forecasting of the monsoons, its sole black spot being in 2015 when it forecast a normal to above-normal monsoon. Instead, the year saw deficient rains, something the IMD correctly predicted.

Writing subsequently in a column in a daily, Skymet founder and Chief Executive Officer Jatin Singh did own up the company's mistake, explaining what went wrong while congratulating IMD for getting it right.