Pano AI, a company that provides an artificial intelligence solution for the detection of wildfires, today said it has raised $17 million in new funding to expand its network and capabilities to help professionals deal with these natural disasters by helping catch them early.

Pano builds a fully managed solution that uses a network of cameras, artificial intelligence, cloud technology, satellite feeds and 5G networking to provide fire agencies and professionals to take immediate action when a wildfire breaks out. It does this by having cameras scan the landscape and horizon for the telltale signs of fire, such as smoke, and have AI distinguish its trajectory and spread.

By having the cameras connected to an AI system that can determine its origin point at early stages, first responders can rapidly deploy with the proper equipment and personnel to deal with the situation. It also provides them access to the cameras that can see the situation at hand, giving them even further information about what’s happening in order to give them critical actionable information before a fire can threaten lives and property.

Valor Equity Partners led the Series A extension round, which followed the company’s Series A funding round from September 2022 of $20 million. Also joining the round as new investors included Salesforce Ventures, T-Mobile Ventures and the 5G Open Innovation Lab, along with existing investors Initialized Capital, Congruent Ventures, Convective Capital and January Ventures. The round brings the total raised by the company to $45 million.

Sonia Kastner, founder and chief executive of Pano AI, said that wildfire detection technologies have become ever more necessary with climate change and the increasing incidence of fires.

“The world has seen increasingly severe and frequent wildfires and other natural disasters in recent years.  Even in an economic downturn, we must act rapidly to cope with these escalating effects of climate change,” Kastner said. “The funding will allow us to accelerate the expansion of our solution across the globe and also our investment in R&D so that we can continue to enhance our product offering to deliver more powerful tools for emergency managers.”

In the current climate, there is no better example of what wildfires can do than what’s happening right now in Canada with the devastating fires pouring smoke over a large portion of North America. By mid-June, the Canadian wildfires burned more than 11.6 million acres, representing more land burned than all but three fire seasons since modern records began in 1983. California’s 2022 wildfire season was unexpectedly mild with only 362,455 acres burned, compared with 2020, which saw a devastating 4.2 million acres burned.

Pano AI is currently present in six U.S. states including California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The company also operates in Australia in New South Wales and Queensland. Its camera’s eyes cover an area of 6.05 million acres scanning constantly for wildfires. Its notable customers include Big Sky Fire Department, Aspen Fire Protection District, Telluride Fire Protection District, Boulder County in the U.S. and Australia’s Forestry Corporation of NSW and Southern Cross Forests.

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