IBM Corp. acquired The Weather Company in late 2015 with the intention of using its meteorological data to help enterprises bring better operational decisions. Boston-based ClimaCell Inc. hit the scene in the same year with a similar vision, but an entirely different plan for executing it.

The startup today announced the completion of a $15 million funding round that will be used to step up the effort amid the intense competition from the likes of IBM. ClimaCell stands out from the pack with a unique approach to predicting the weather that relies not on specialized sensory hardware, but rather carrier networks.

The startup’s technology takes advantage of the fact that wireless signals change in subtle ways as they travel over the air. According to ClimaCell, it analyzes these changes to understand the weather conditions in the area that the data passes on its way to user’s device. The measurements are then combined with atmospheric information from more traditional sources such as satellite feeds to produce a forecast.

ClimaCell said its weather predictions are accurate down to the level of individual city blocks. Moreover, the large volume of signals transmitted from the average cell tower enables the startup to refresh the data as often as once a minute. This creates highly granular forecasts that can accurately anticipate the weather up to six hours into the future.

There are numerous uses for this kind of information. Retailers, for example, can consult meteorological data to predict how many consumers will visit a store on a given day and plan accordingly. Foot traffic tends to fluctuate a great deal based on factors such as whether or not it’s snowing. An airline, meanwhile, could use ClimaCell’s information to plan flight routes.

The startup makes the data accessible via two products. The first is a cloud-based weather map, while the other is a programming interface that enables companies to infuse forecasts directly into their systems. ClimaCell Chief Executive Officer Shimon Elkabetz told Xconomy that “tens” of customers have come aboard so far.

The new funding will enable the startup to continue growing. Specifically, it plans to step up product development efforts and expand outside the U.S. The fact that ClimaCell doesn’t have to deploy any special hardware to collect weather data could enable it to scale up operations more easily than rivals, which would prove to be a big advantage on the long run.

ClimaCell has raised about $35 million in funding to date.

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