AI company wants to cut climate risk and prevent wildfires

A volunteer works to extinguish a wildfire. Climate change and a warming planet have increased the risk to electrical grids and other infrastructure as extreme heat and cold overwhelm capacity and damage equipment. — Reuters

An artificial intelligence company that counts some of the largest US utilities as its clients raised US$60mil (RM251.70mil) to help energy and infrastructure companies prevent fires, outages, explosions and worker accidents.

The investment round, led by Energize Ventures, includes power companies American Electric Power Co and National Grid Plc, Urbint said in a statement on Tuesday. The company combines environmental and infrastructure data to foresee and head off damage from incidents ranging from storms to excavation.