FloodMapp, the Fortitude Valley climate tech startup, is expanding and improving its services to help various organizations cope with the increasing intensity of flooding events not only in Brisbane but across the world.
Co-founders Ryan Prosser, an engineer, and Juliette Murphy, a flood mitigation expert, have recently closed an $8.49 million seed fundraising round to integrate their invention, the real-time FloodMapp app, to other platforms like Waze.
New York-based venture capitalist Union Square Ventures (USV) is backing the Fortitude Valley company alongside investors like Mundi Ventures, Climate X, and Jelix Ventures.
The seed funding will allow FloodApp to upgrade its technology to help more communities and emergency managers. The company is also setting its sights on establishing satellite offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Virginia in the U.S. as more governments require their services and expertise.
“Flooding is getting more severe every day,” Ms Murphy said. “We’ll be scaling up our technical engineering team, as well as our go-to-market team here in Australia, but also in the US to expand that capability.”
Both founders experienced devastating flooding events in Brisbane in 2011 and in Calgary, Canada in 2013. The co-founders also knew they could create a better flood modelling and monitoring system that can save lives.
Since its launch in 2018, FloodMapp has grown from a staff of three to a staff of 26. It has acquired clients like the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), Noosa Regional Council, Energy Queensland and Origin Energy.
“The world is facing a climate crisis, and we need the best and brightest thinkers, innovators and inventors from around the world to turn their collective talent to finding solutions,” USV’s Nick Grossman said in the press release.
“We’re thrilled to partner with FloodMapp, our very first adaptation-focused investment. FloodMapp has developed a world-first flood modelling technology to predict flooding at a granular, street-level in real-time.
“What excites us most about FloodMapp is the data network effect. By working with emergency managers and communities through partnerships like Waze, FloodMapp is collecting real-time ground observation data to continually validate and improve models.”
