Investors bolster Jua’s AI physics model for nature

Weather events, adverse or mild, impact electricity generation, demand, and transmission. Accurate weather forecasts are required to help different players in the energy sector to anticipate peaks in electricity demand, manage energy production, and plan for outages. In the renewable energy industry, precise weather data and forecasting are essential for optimising operations, mitigating risks, and ensuring efficient energy production.

Using tens of millions of data points to provide precise forecasts, Jua from Freienbach (Canton Schwyz) developed the first end-to-end deep learning model, a “Large Physics Model” for nature, that can predict the weather accurately, precisely, and quickly than traditional solutions. The AI weather forecasting model offers unprecedented speed in predicting weather changes, allowing users, particularly in the energy sector, to develop global, high-frequency and high-accuracy weather models within days.

With its first appearance in the startup scene in 2022, Jua aimed to provide a weather prediction model, but it has gone beyond this concept and expanded it in size and scope to become a true foundation physics model for the natural world. The first tests have already been conducted.

“We have done some validation on extreme events, such as hurricanes and cyclones showing promising performance,” said Andreas Brenner, co-founder and CEO of Jua. “We are currently fully focused on the energy industry, where extreme events are an important driver of energy stability, profit and loss. We have therefore made it a priority to outperform legacy prediction models on such events,” he added.

Jua has grown to 22 people who work at its offices in Zurich, Berlin and Cape Town.  This growth and approach to weather prediction impressed several investors, securing fresh funding of $16 million. Among the participants in the round are 468 Capital, Green Generation Fund, Promus Ventures, Kadmos Capital Ltd, session.vc, Notion Capital. An Innosuisse grant complements the equity investment, providing the startup with sufficient funds to accelerate research and development efforts and to continue enhancing the model and make it available to customers in Q1 2024.

Ahead of its official launch, Jua has partnered with large and small companies, including TotalEnergies, which selected the company for its accelerator program, and Virtus Resources Partners, one of its investors.

Ludwig Ensthaler, 468 General Partner, commends Jua via LinkedIn, saying. “Co-founders Andreas Brenner, Marvin Gabler and the Jua team are building the world’s first foundation AI for physics and the natural world, which will be capable of providing powerful insights for a wide range of industries dependent on a true understanding of nature - from insurance companies and chemical and energy providers to disaster planning teams, organisations in agriculture, airlines and aid charities.”

(RAN)