From Drones To Balloons: 5 Startups Fighting Wildfires And Drought

Forbes

3 days ago

Five Start-Ups to Watch
Wildfire smoke has become the scent-of-summer 2025: as of August, hundreds of wildfires are burning worldwide as regions grapple with severe drought.
From the scorched landscapes of Canada, with over 6.56 million hectares (16.2m acres) of forest charred by August, to Europe's unprecedented wildfire season— 354,000 hectares of land—nearly double the 19-year average – was scorched and charred across Europe. From Turkey, Greece, Albania, to Portugal, France, and Spain, ferocious flames are engulfing entire regions, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
NASA's recent GRACE Follow-On data report shows a dramatic rise in the intensity of severe weather events like these over the past five years, revealing that last year's figures were double the average for 2003-2020. As the planet parches, and extreme wildfire and droughts raise alarm bells, investors are pouring fresh capital into start-ups using cutting-edge technology to forecast, mitigate and even reverse drought.
PwC's 2024 State of Climate Tech report finds adaptation AI deals up 34 % YoY even as overall climate VC cooled.
Let's take a look at five innovative startups and what they are doing to alert us to, prevent, and stop wildfires and drought. As the impact of climate change becomes more immediate and acute, innovation is shifting from a focus on prevention, increasingly, to mitigation.
Category: Weather Modification | USA
Tech: Rainmaker is a U.S.-based startup using drone-based cloud seeding to trigger rainfall in drought-stricken regions. By deploying drones equipped with weather-modification tech, the company offers a high-risk, high-reward adaptation tool for areas facing severe water scarcity.
Funding: The startup recently raised a $25 million Series A round led by Lowercarbon Capital, signaling growing investor confidence in climate adaptation. Other backers include Starship Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, and 1517 Fund.
Why it matters: As droughts worsen globally, Rainmaker could become an essential part of regional water resilience strategies. However, cloud-seeding is a debated topic, with lingering concerns and questions over it's long-term impact.
Category: Wildfire Detection | USA
Tech: Pano AI uses AI-powered panoramic cameras to detect wildfires early and send real-time alerts to emergency responders. Its system already monitors nearly 30 million acres across wildfire-prone regions.
Funding: Backed by a $44 million Series B, Pano's tech covers 12 GW of utility lines across the U.S. West and is proving essential for utilities and fire agencies looking to act faster and minimize damage as wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense.
Why it matters: Early detection is critical to preventing wildfire devastation—and Pano's technology puts powerful tools in the hands of first responders.
Category: Satellite Wildfire Intelligence | Munich, Germany
Tech: 10 thermal‑infrared nanosats streaming 24/7 fire data, already in orbit stream 24/7 fire alerts and behaviour forecasts to government agencies on five continents.
Funding: €37 M Series B extension (May 2025) led by BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Fund & Rabo Ventures, bringing total VC + contracts to €100 million.
Why it matters: When a spark can bankrupt a utility, 'minutes' is the new SLA. OroraTech's real-time data is basically an early-warning system for the planet—prime raw material for insurers, asset managers and anyone pricing wildfire risk.
Category: High-altitude Balloon Imaging for Wildfire Response | Denver, USA
Funding: $30 M Series B (Feb 2025) led by Altos Ventures, with Lerer Hippeau & Techstars on board.
Tech: Reusable stratospheric micro‑balloons with NASA-validated 'Hot Spot' payload delivers infrared heat maps 100× finer than MODIS/VIIRS. Demo-tested on the Palisades Fire this year; paid customers already include 15+ utilities and U.S. defense agencies.Why it matters: Think of Urban Sky as a 'personally deployable satellite.' Their reusable balloons launch from a pickup in ten minutes, giving emergency crews live fire intel without the six-figure satellite bill—or the wait.
Category: Drought-Resilient Water Recovery & Carbon Removal| Berkeley, USA / Auckland, NZFunding: $27.5 M Series A (Mar 2025) led by Tetrad Corp. with Hyundai Motor's Zer01NE Ventures & Energy Capital Ventures.Tech: Membrane‑based process turns brine into fresh water & mineralised CO₂. Pilot with Palmdale Water District eliminates 100 acres of brine ponds while recovering millions of gallons of potable water and mineralising CO₂ in one step—cutting lifetime costs by 40 %.Why it matters: Western utilities are desperate for new water sources that don't guzzle energy. Capture6 flips a waste stream into drought insurance and a carbon credit. Talk about liquid assets.
These five startups represent a growing movement to fortify human and ecological systems against climate volatility. As governments and corporations wake up to the need for adaptation alongside mitigation, expect these types of tools to become increasingly mainstream and investible. If 2024 was the year climate tech cooled, 2025 is proving adaptation can still light up the cap table—sometimes literally.