Startup Rhizome gets into the wildfire prevention game

Rhizome, a climate resilience planning platform for the power grid, is making its debut in the wildfire mitigation space.

• The top line: The artificial intelligence-powered software platform Rhizome announced today the launch of gridFIRM, alongside a $1 million investment from venture capital firm Convective Capital. The “FIRM” in the tool’s name stands for Fire Ignition Reduction and Mitigation, and it is designed to help utilities limit their wildfire risks.
• The nuts and bolts: The gridFIRM tool is available to utilities in Australia, Canada, and the United States. It uses machine learning to process geographic and historical datasets about utilities’ assets — and to determine their likelihood of sparking a wildfire. Additionally, utilities can use the tool to determine whether mitigation techniques such as insulating bare conductors or undergrounding are the safest or most effective for a specific asset.
• The market grounding: In recent months, using AI for wildfire mitigation and response has been gaining traction. Convective Capital itself is a $35 million venture capital fund solely dedicated to funding solutions to wildfires, which Bill Clerico, its founder, describes as an “existential risk” for U.S. utilities. They cause “bankruptcies, fines, and regulatory actions and [have cost] the industry over $100 billion in the last 10 years,” he said.

Dedicated startups that have announced money raises recently include Dryad Networks, which embeds AI into solar-powered sensors to detect fires as soon as possible, and AiDash, which offers AI-backed vegetation management and provides maintenance recommendations to utilities, among others.

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