Previsico senior team, L-R: Jonathan Jackson, CEO; Dr Avi Baruch Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer; Professor Dapeng Yu, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer. Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors

University spinout gains £1.75M funding to support growth and next-generation global flood-warning solution

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ InsurTech spinout Previsico has today announced a further £1.75M investment to accelerate the impact of its award-winning next-generation global flood-warning solution.

Previsio’s Dr Avi Baruch Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer; Professor Dapeng Yu, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer. Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors

The £1.75M Seed Plus funding, led by the Foresight Group, a listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, will support the next stage of Previsico’s product development, including IoT sensors, team expansion and sales growth, in the UK and beyond.

The move follows Previsico’s increasing traction in the insurance market, including with Zurich and BT, and escalating demand for its market-leading ‘live flood forecasting’ solution, with hyper-accurate flood forecasting and flood warnings down to individual property level, following increasing flood losses, worldwide.

Flooding is currently one of the UK’s and the world's most damaging natural hazards. In an increasingly volatile climate, with intensive urbanisation, global flood losses are expected to escalate from $1 trillion in the 30 years to 2020 to $1.7 trillion annually, by 2050, according to the World Resources Institute. As climate change makes severe weather occurrences more common, there is an increased need for accurate predictions of flooding events worldwide. Underpinned by extensive research and impact, Previsico offers the only solution currently available to forecast and provide hyper-local alerts for surface-water flood events. It is also more accurate than incumbent solutions and can warn customers up to 48 hours prior to a potential flooding event, allowing time to prepare and prevent significant flood damage.

Previsico’s technology was developed by Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dapeng Yu, Professor of River Dynamics at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and a leading expert on hydrology. It combines data with proprietary algorithms to create automated alerts, highlighting areas at immediate risk of flooding. This allows insurers to alert customers of imminent flooding and to take immediate preventative action such as the erection of flood defences and the removal of valuables to a safe area. Aviva estimates 1 in 5 properties in the UK are in areas at risk of surface water flooding. The recent flash floods in London resulted in the closure of eight tube stations, a DLR station, numerous roads, and damage to hundreds of homes. Most of the affected areas were not covered by Environment Agency warnings.

Jonathan Jackson, CEO of Previsico, said: “Previsico’s mission is to be the leading provider of cutting-edge flood prediction technology, worldwide. We are thrilled that our significant advances in the insurance market have been recognised by Foresight, the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Foresight Williams Technology. Previsico is not only building a highly successful commercial business, it’s going to make a significant impact on humanity too.” 

Professor Claudia Eberlein, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Dean of Science and Enterprise lead commented: “I’m delighted that this significant investment will enable Previsico to further develop its innovative platform, allowing it to be used in more cities, and support the creation of new jobs at its headquarters on LUSEP, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Science and Enterprise Park.”

The investment is jointly funded by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Foresight Williams Technology. The investment by Williams is particularly pertinent to its Formula 1 team, after this year’s Belgian Grand Prix was cut short after just two laps due to track flooding.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: PR 21/199

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Previsico

Voted into the ‘Hot 100’ global InsurTechs by Intelligent InsurTech, Previsico provides real-time, street-level surface-water flood forecasts to mitigate flood impacts globally, including live actionable street-level flood nowcast and forecast warnings. 

Previsico won the prestigious ‘Innovation of the Year’ award at the British Data Awards 2021, against strong competition in all sectors, including FTSE 100 firms, tech unicorns, public sector bodies, and not-for-profit organisations.

A spinout company from º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Previsico was launched in 2019 following 20 years of academic research, with support from the Cabinet Office, the Met Office, and the Environment Agency. 

Previsico’s mission is to be the leading global provider of cutting-edge flood prediction that saves lives and livelihoods, with the whole of the UK live and much of the USA mapped. Previsico is also targeting the Asian market and opened an office in Hong Kong in 2020.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2021 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2019.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021, 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022 and 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2022.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes

The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

Categories