Houston fintech company launches new tool for startups and small businesses

There’s no getting around it: Houston floods. And with the deluge comes obstacles for businesses. The only real power we have in the face of such adversity is preparation.

StormGeo, a weather intelligence provider with its US headquarters in Houston, has partnered with Norwegian company 7Analytics to create technology positioned to revolutionize flood planning.

StormGeo debuted in Norway in 1997. In 2012, it bought the Houston company Impact Weather, says Bob Weinzapfel, meteorologist and senior project manager for weather insights for StormGeo. Houston is one of 24 offices spread across 15 countries with more than 600 employees, Weinzapfel adds.

The team at 7Analytics, according to Weinzapfel, “is a bunch of smart flood experts and machine learning experts.” Together, they are introducing a technology that Weinzapfel calls “a game changer” for Houston businesses.

7Analytics uses AI to provide users with an overview of Houston’s potential flooding based on a 72-hour forecast. “Any business like a grocery store or a hospital or even a refinery – any business with employees or customers, it’s important to know Will the roads be flooded? Can my employees and customers enter?says Weinzapfel.

StormGeo has long provided weather insights and guidance to businesses in Houston, but they previously relied on the National Weather Service. Now detailed maps provide real-time flood warning.

The maps predict the likelihood of flooding in each subsea basin, but perhaps more importantly, they can enter clients’ buildings to show what flooding will look like in nearby parking lots and roads.

“Our product takes a real-time StormGeo forecast – for example, the risk of rainfall tomorrow – and translates it into actionable risk information, such as your site is at risk of up to 1 meter of flooding tomorrow with peak flooding occurring at 2pm, ” explains Jonas Toland, co-founder of 7Analytics.

Armed with such information, companies can adjust their operations going forward. For example, one client is a grocery chain.

“They have business processes they have to get used to. The locations that have customers try to be the last to close and the first to open,” says Weinzapfel.

That means storm tracking can help tell the store’s team to buy more emergency supplies to sell, schedule more employees to help sell them, and know when to close to keep those workers safe.

The Houston version of the solution is the first, but Weinzapfel says the team is currently working to expand across greater Houston and then into Austin.

“We knew that if we could do it here and do a really good job, we could do it anywhere using the same technology,” he adds.

There is no doubt that flooding will continue to occur in Houston. But with StormGeo and 7Analytics’ flood model in the Houston area, the people who serve us will be prepared.