Lockheed's venture arm backs weather tech company

Lockheed Martin‘s venture capital arm has made an investment in Meteomatics, a maker of data and intelligence products it designs to help enterprises forecast the weather's impacts on business and operations.

Meteomatics operates a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles it calls Meteodrones, which can fly at altitudes of up to 20,000 feet as they collect weather data on an hourly basis.

Terms of the transaction announced Thursday were not disclosed. But Meteomatics said it will use this new capital to further develop its technology and push to expand across the government, defense, energy, aviation and insurance sectors.

“We’re expecting a higher number of extreme weather events this year and that number will only climb over the next few years," Meteomatics' founder and chief executive Dr. Martin Fengler said in a release. "It’s critical that businesses have access to the most accurate weather forecasts so they can properly plan and make informed decisions about weather impacts."

Meteomatics is headquartered in Switzerland with local operations in the U.S., Germany, Spain and the U.K.

The company also designs its weather model to operate at a resolution of 1 kilometer, which it touts as being at the street level.

Current government and commercial weather observation technology works at resolutions of 10-to-50 kilometers and updates four times a day at most, according to Meteomatics.

“Meteomatics’ weather intelligence has the potential to give the U.S. and its allies a better understanding of the dynamic environments in which assets and personnel operate, both improving operational effectiveness and reducing risk,” Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said in a release.