Storm Exchange buys weather forecasting firm
London, 17 April: Weather risk management service Storm Exchange is to acquire Weather Ventures, a Pennsylvania-based forecasting company, for an undisclosed sum.

David Riker, CEO of New York-based Storm Exchange, said: “We’ve added expertise and experience in atmospheric science to advance the breadth of our weather risk management solutions. This relationship will allow us to lead the capital markets into categories of weather risk that were previously unattainable.”

Storm Exchange was established in 2007 to help businesses manage the financial risk of adverse weather conditions. It offers online pricing and execution of contracts to hedge this risk.

Weather Ventures is headed by John Dutton, a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, who will become chief scientist at Storm Exchange. Lead researcher Jeremy Ross has been named vice-president, weather research and operations, and will oversee a weather research facility to be established at the university.

Dutton will lead development of new Storm Exchange weather indexes and develop prediction methodologies to “help businesses gauge their company-specific exposures to various weather scenarios”, the company said.