How Cutting Edge AI and Next Gen Satellites are Outperforming NASA to Protect Communities from Unprecedented Wildfire Outbreaks
Background
As the world adapts to unprecedented climate disruption, there is a clear ecological and business case for preserving the world’s forests, not to mention a clear social impact case to the billions of people who live and work in forests, globally (120 million people in Latin America, or 18% of the population, still reside in rural areas with high dependence on forests). Forests aid climate stability, regulate water supply, are home to half of the world’s biodiversity, prevent erosion, purify the air, protect communities, and create jobs for up to 1.6 billion people across the world.
This was not lost on Franco, Joaquin and Ulises, three Argentinians who witnessed family and friends lose their homes to escalating wildfires in South America. Spurred to action, the founders interviewed hundreds of forest fire experts to understand the reason behind the increase in the frequency and damage of forest fires before launching Satellites on Fire (SOF) to address the challenges in wildfire detection and prevention. Today, forest fires are the largest contributor to forest damage globally, with many regions experiencing record-breaking fires. Forest fires generated 2,197 megatonnes of carbon emissions in 2023. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), most of this is concentrated in tropical regions like Africa and South America, where 4% of the region’s tropical areas have disappeared. In Latin America, wildfire incidents have increased by 38% while affected areas have increased by 91%, between 2013 and 2020.
Forest fires don’t just cause significant physical damage, they come with negative economic consequences. A burned hectare of productive forest can cause tens of thousands of dollars in lost value and can take over a decade to regrow and cultivate biodiversity. Wildfires have claimed up to 300,000 lives per year and $20 billion in annual damage. Forest fires also cause significant physical and mental health defects to the affected communities.
In emerging markets, forest fire detection still relies largely on human observation or outdated tech. The founders of SOF are part of a nascent landscape of individuals working to devise better solutions that prevent and reduce the losses generated by forest fires. Central to these efforts are the deployment of innovative technology from identifying risk areas for controlled forest burns and anticipating forest fire hotspots, to software designed for detection and monitoring tools, as well as predictive analytics.
SOLUTION: SATELLITES ON FIRE
At the heart of SOF is a mission to create and make readily available top notch technology to help communities cope with increasing risk from wildfires due to climate change. Utilizing the power of transformational AI, SOF’s integrated solution allows for wildfire detection in real time versus with 6–12 hour delays, 3x more detections on a user’s database in Argentina than the GOES satellite used by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and precision that allows for identifying fires at their earliest onsets, even when the fire is smaller than a single pixel of the satellite imagery. The platform creates alerts from multiple data sets including satellites, cameras, and weather forecasting to notify users about the presence and anticipated travel direction of forest fires from the moment they begin. This information is crucial in assisting first responders with early detection and prevention, as the resources required to stop a wildfire and the damage caused by wildfires increases exponentially over time.
SOF is user friendly, with its data presented in the form of a land map with visualizations of fire outbreaks that anyone can look at and monitor. It provides both a free and paid version with automated alerts via simple messages on everyday communication channels. The paying service is sold to corporate, government, and institutional clients managing forested areas. It includes automated alerts via the SOF app, WhatsApp, and/or email amidst each fire outbreak.
In less than a year since raising its pre-seed capital round SOF is already demonstrating robust impact. Its real-time alerts have already been adopted by large-scale public and private institutions such as governments, forestry management associations, and indigenous communities. To date, SOF has helped over 400 organizations, and is monitoring 34M hectares across 11 countries in Latin America. Its service has helped firefighters and first responders, governments and municipalities to make conservation efforts more effective. Even property developers can find value in the service by determining the degree of fire-resistant landscaping and overall fire management. With wide demand for wildfire management services across a broad breadth of industries, SOF is setting its initial focus on 4 core segments: agriculture; conservation projects linked to carbon credit developments, where widespread wildfires have recently led to projects being unable to deliver their carbon offset commitments; sustainable forestry companies; and the insurance sector to devise and price wildfire products for a diverse array of clients.
INVESTMENT RATIONALE
Mercy Corps Ventures’ vision is one where individuals and communities are empowered to withstand climate disruption, build for a more equitable future, and thrive. One where diverse and historically underserved participants in the global economy achieve financial equity and climate resilience. Emerging markets disproportionately bear the costs of climate change and we actively work to reduce the gap in access to technologies to prepare, adapt, and recover from climate events. Satellites on Fire’s low-cost, tech-driven innovation to apply the highest quality technology globally to serve those most affected by wildfires aligns strongly with this vision. That the team is agile and strong stewards of financial resources, laser focused on this specific challenge, and tackling a growing market need estimated at $8.5bn globally (nearly half of which is in Latin America), further gives us confidence in their ability to succeed.
Mercy Corps Ventures is excited about the tremendous growth potential for SOF as a first mover in a space with high demand that is accelerating exponentially due to climate change. We expect the entrepreneurs behind this bold vision to continue to press the cutting edge and deliver increasing value for their users as SOF increases its capacity to monitor and detect forest fires, providing faster and better alerts to ensure quicker evacuation and coverage for losses. We are eager to be part of this journey!
“Satellites on Fire is a wildfire early alert system using satellites, cameras in towers, and AI. Nowadays, SOF is surpassing NASA’s speed of alert and being implemented among 11 countries. We are very happy to count on the support of MCV — their amazing network and expertise in finance, sales, and other areas is invaluable as we expand our reach and empower communities to fight wildfires more effectively”. Franco Viau, co-founder and CEO of Satellites of Fire.
Stay tuned for more updates on our portfolio here.
