$2.5M Pre-seed Round to Make Weather Forecasts More Accurate #SaaS
Summary
TLDRAndreas Brenner, co-founder and CEO of Jewel, discusses his journey from the old industry to founding multiple SaaS companies, including Jewel, a pre-revenue SaaS startup focusing on accurate weather forecasting using deep learning and IoT data. Brenner shares his fundraising experience, emphasizing the importance of networking and outreach to investors. He also highlights the potential scientific discoveries their AI model could yield and the company's plans for future growth, including commercial contracts and another funding round.
Takeaways
- 😀 Andreas Brenner is the co-founder and CEO of Jewel, a pre-revenue SaaS company specializing in accurate weather forecasts.
- 🌐 Andreas has a background in the SaaS industry, having previously founded Avrios, which was sold to Battery Ventures, and is also a founding investor in Cleanhub.
- 🌡️ Jewel's weather forecasting model is the first end-to-end deep learning-based model, utilizing both traditional meteorological data and IoT data from smart homes and cars.
- 💡 The company's approach to weather forecasting is innovative, as it allows machines to learn the physics of the atmosphere, rather than relying solely on numerical models.
- 📈 Jewel provides its services through an API and plans to offer customers the ability to fine-tune the weather model for their specific needs using their own data.
- 💼 Andreas has a business background but is also technically inclined, with experience in software and technology since a young age.
- 🌱 The company was founded in April 2022 and has grown to a team of 17, primarily focused on technology development.
- 📍 The team is spread across Zurich, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; and Cape Town, South Africa.
- 💼 Andreas emphasizes the importance of network building for fundraising, having raised more capital than initially disclosed, and highlights the value of speaking to a large number of investors to ensure a good fit.
- 🔮 Jewel is currently in negotiations for its first commercial contracts and is considering another funding round in the future to support product development and market expansion.
Q & A
What is the name of the weather forecasting company founded by Andreas Brenner?
-The company founded by Andreas Brenner is called Jewel (JUA).
What makes Jewel's weather forecasting model unique?
-Jewel's weather forecasting model is unique because it is the world's first end-to-end deep learning-based model, which uses not only traditional governmental data sources but also IoT data from smart homes and cars.
How does Jewel plan to allow customers to customize their weather forecasts?
-Jewel plans to provide an API and also release capabilities for customers to fine-tune the weather model for their specific purposes using their own custom data.
What is the business model for Jewel's weather forecasting service?
-Jewel's business model is based on a subscription model where customers pay to access the API. They offer a fixed bundle with a usage component in theory, but in practice, it's offered as a fixed rate subscription.
When was Jewel founded and how many team members does it currently have?
-Jewel was founded in April 2022 and currently has a team of 17 people, predominantly in technology roles.
What was Andreas Brenner's previous experience in the SaaS industry before founding Jewel?
-Before founding Jewel, Andreas Brenner co-founded a company called Avrios in 2015, which grew to about 10 million in ARR before being sold to Battery Ventures. He was also a founding investor in Cleanhub and is on the board of two other SaaS companies.
How did Andreas Brenner's background influence the founding of Jewel?
-Andreas Brenner's background in technology and business, along with his personal interest in weather due to activities like kite surfing and trail running, influenced the founding of Jewel. His experience in the SaaS industry and previous success with Avrios also played a significant role.
What was the process like for Jewel to raise their initial funding?
-Jewel's initial funding was raised through a combination of Andreas Brenner's network and a lucky coincidence of a lead investor with experience in the weather industry seeing a LinkedIn announcement and reaching out.
What are some of the key industries that are interested in Jewel's weather forecasting service?
-Key industries interested in Jewel's service include consumer weather apps, agriculture, and renewable energy sectors, where accurate precipitation forecasts are particularly valuable.
What are some of the challenges and exciting prospects that Jewel is currently facing?
-Jewel is facing the challenge of understanding the new atmospheric physics learned by their machine learning model, which could lead to scientific discoveries. They are also in the exciting phase of negotiating their first commercial contracts and planning for future fundraising.
Outlines
🌐 Introduction to Andreas Brenner and Jewel
Andreas Brenner, co-founder and CEO of Jewel, a pre-revenue SaaS company specializing in accurate weather forecasting, is introduced. Andreas has a background in the SaaS industry, having previously founded Avrios, which was sold to Battery Ventures. He is also involved in other companies like Cleanhub and sits on the boards of two SaaS companies. Jewel utilizes deep learning to enhance weather predictions, incorporating IoT data from smart homes and vehicles in addition to traditional meteorological data. The company aims to provide an API for its services and plans to allow customers to fine-tune the weather model for their specific needs.
🌦️ Discussing Jewel's Business Model and Customer Acquisition
Jewel's business model is based on a subscription service for its API, with a potential tiered structure based on usage. The company is pre-revenue but has plans to monetize its services. The ideal customer profile for Jewel is broad, as weather affects many industries. Initial interest is being generated through inbound marketing, network connections, and outbound emails. Andreas emphasizes the importance of iterating on the company's message to find product-market fit.
💼 Fundraising Insights and Investor Engagement
Andreas shares his experience with fundraising, highlighting the importance of networking and maintaining relationships with investors. He mentions that he and his co-founder managed to raise an undisclosed amount of capital beyond the initial $2.5 million, partly due to their previous business success and a lucky connection on LinkedIn. Andreas advises that speaking to a large number of investors can be crucial in finding the right fit and securing funding.
🌍 Global Perspective on Fundraising and Investor Relations
Andreas discusses the differences in fundraising approaches between Europe and Silicon Valley, emphasizing the importance of speaking to a large number of investors to increase the chances of success. He shares his strategy of speaking to at least 100 investors per funding round and how this approach has helped him secure funding. Andreas also talks about the importance of understanding an investor's fit beyond just their initial interest in your company.
🚀 Future Plans and Scientific Discoveries at Jewel
Looking ahead, Andreas is excited about the scientific discoveries Jewel's machine learning model has made regarding atmospheric physics, which are yet to be understood by scientists. He also anticipates signing commercial contracts and another funding round to further the company's growth. Andreas encourages founders to reach out to him for advice and support, aiming to give back to the entrepreneurial community.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡SaaS
💡Deep Learning
💡IoT Data
💡Numerical Weather Models
💡ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
💡API
💡Subscription Model
💡B2B
💡Outbound Email
💡Fundraising
Highlights
Andreas Brenner, co-founder and CEO of Jewel, discusses his SaaS background and the inception of Jewel, a company focused on accurate weather forecasting.
Jewel utilizes a deep learning approach to weather forecasting, incorporating IoT data from smart homes and vehicles.
The company's business model revolves around a subscription-based API access for customers seeking precise weather data.
Jewel's technology is the first end-to-end deep learning-based weather forecasting model implemented outside of a research lab.
Andreas shares his personal passion for the outdoors and how it influenced his interest in improving weather forecasting technology.
The company is currently pre-revenue but has plans to monetize through a tiered subscription model based on usage.
Jewel's ideal customer profiles range from consumer weather apps to the agriculture and renewable energy sectors.
The company has experienced rapid growth, expanding to a team of 17 people since its founding in April 2022.
Andreas emphasizes the importance of network building and maintaining relationships with investors for successful fundraising.
Jewel has raised an undisclosed amount of capital beyond the initial $2.5 million, indicating strong investor interest.
The company's approach to fundraising includes a strategic focus on engaging with a large number of investors to ensure a good fit.
Andreas discusses the scientific excitement of Jewel's model uncovering new aspects of atmospheric physics.
Jewel is in the process of negotiating its first commercial contracts, marking a significant milestone for the company.
The company is considering another funding round in the future to support product development and market expansion.
Listeners are encouraged to connect with Andreas on LinkedIn or visit Jewel's website for more information.
Transcripts
greetings everyone I'm excited to
welcome Andreas Brenner co-founder and
CEO at Jewel to the show Andreas welcome
to the show today
hi great to be here great to have you
here so let's dive in tell us a little
bit about your SAS background
sure so I was previously in an old
industry so I'm not going to talk too
much about that in SAS I started so my
first company called avrios with two
co-founders in 2015 we grew the company
to about 10 million in ARR and then we
sold it to battery Ventures at the end
of last year
and then I am also founding investor in
another company which is you know just
about at serious a level the company is
called cleanhub has some sort of a
subscription model I'm also on the board
of two other SAS companies all of them
in somewhere in the range of let's say
two to five million ARR and then at the
same time as you just said I'm also
co-founder and CEO of the of a
pre-revenue SAS company called jua where
we do accurate weather forecasts so we
built the first world's first end-to-end
deep learning based weather forecasting
model
that's great you know everybody loves to
talk about the weather I'm located in
Denver Colorado right now and we're
supposed to get nine inches of snow
tonight so we'll see who knows it could
be two it could be 14 inches but you
never know so I love that so yeah tell
us a little bit more about Duo which is
j-u-a so tell us a little bit about what
jewel does
sure so for now it's literally
straightforward we make weather
forecasts significantly more accurate
under the hood we achieved that by using
complementary data so instead of using
only the governmental you know radar
airplane satellite data that you would
expect we also throw iot data into the
mix so we use data from Smart Homes cars
and so on so we and then the other part
is um historically weather forecasts
have always been done with numerical
weather models so you could say people
try to hard code the physics of the
atmosphere it's an oversimplification
but approximately that's what it is
we're taking a deep learning approach
instead so we're letting the machine
learn the physics of the atmosphere
if you will enter knowledge we're the
first ones in the world who've done this
outside of a research lab so there's
been research before but nobody's really
implemented this in a practically
operational model where the first for
now we provide this as an
as an API but also we're student
planning to release
capabilities for customers to fine-tune
the weather model for their specific
purposes with their own custom data and
then the business model is a
subscription one so we sell that as a we
sell that as a
subscription model for now to get access
to the to the API
okay really interesting I love it you
know weather forecast and and improving
upon that process so you say using
government data sources which a lot of
folks use but also iot data which is
really interesting and then we'll talk a
little bit more about your company but
you said you recently founded so we're
just entering 2023 here so did you found
this in 2022
that's right yes we we got together full
time in April of last year to start
working
to start well in in March last year to
start working on this company we erased
a little bit of money we're now
a team of 17 people
predominantly Tech because it's
it's it's not so easy what we
must be built in terms of Technology but
yeah that's a great yeah and and tell us
your background do you have a technical
background are you on the business side
what what's your your background
so I I'm interested in technology I
started making websites for other people
when I was 12 years old and that's kind
of how I slipped into software and and
Technology I always prefer programming
my my calculator instead of listening to
the German lesson in school or stuff
like that so so it's always you know
interested in a technical side but I
studied business I'm the commercial guy
my co-founder is a machine learning
engineer with a family business
background in in the weather space okay
okay interesting so founded the company
in April 2022 team size of 17 right now
mostly on the engineering Tech side and
then where is where are you located or
where is your company predominantly
located then
so I'm personally based out of Zurich in
Switzerland my co-founders based in
Berlin Germany
and these are two of our Hops and then
the third we also have actually five or
six people are in Cape Town in South
Africa
okay interesting yeah common that people
are in in different locations and okay
so found in 2022 and then you're in
Zurich co-founder of Berlin some folks
in Cape Town a team of 17 and and so
right now you are pre-revenue but you're
gonna sell this on a subscription basis
then we'll be a pure
you know fixed rate subscription will
there be any sort of usage component to
the subscription
so we are offering in theory there is a
usage component in practice we're
offering that as a as a fixed bundle so
in in tears if you want volume volume
tier so okay so subscription but maybe
some tiers as the usage increases or
some sort of indicator that they'll move
up through the tiers based on correct in
the app or the API okay yeah and you're
really interesting so with weather so
who are you going after as far as
customers who who's your ideal customer
profile or or what type of customers
would be interested in in Dua
the one thing that I quickly learned as
I I was near to the weather industry so
I was a personal
you know I'm personally very involved
with the topic I'm a I'm a kite Surfer
and Trail Runner and personally try and
spend as much time Outdoors as I
possibly can but
and you know I had previously been
working in renewable energy so from
that's from from the customer side I had
I had some good good interest in the
topic but I was not familiar with the
weather industry and I think one thing
that I learned is that you know this is
one of the top 10 keywords in the world
on Google I think and then at the same
time it's much easier to find businesses
that are not in some way affected by
weather than it is to find businesses
that are and so you're rightfully asking
the question who's our ideal customer
profile
and I think you know building this
business one of the key things that that
matters not so much identifying
additional opportunity but it's more
about Focus I would lie if I were to say
that we have a hundred percent figure
this out for the long term but we're
seeing we're seeing a lot of inbound
interest because of the specific
features of our model
um from anybody who's interested
particularly in accuracy and
precipitation that's that's also like
physically one of the hardest nuts to to
crack
and it's it starts it starts with simple
you know consumer weather apps
because as a consumer you're when you
look at the weather what you really want
to know mostly is does it rain or not
should I wear a jacket yes or no
temperature of course matters but that's
that's just accurate enough a
precipitation is where we can still get
a lot better
so consumer apps is one
and then on the more B2B side we're
seeing a lot of interest in the
agriculture sector where again
precipitation matters a lot
and the accuracy that our model can
provide makes a meaningful difference
for operational planning and then the
third key industry is renewable energies
and generally more broadly the energy
sector I would say
okay interesting so still figuring out
your ICP which makes sense but consumer
weather apps you know which I used to
use dark sky which was bought by Apple
and kind of consumed by the Apple app
I'm not sure if I like that that
integration yet but and then the B2B
side agriculture which makes a ton of
sense and then renewable energy and
broadly the energy sector and for those
other SAS Founders who are listening who
are in that same stage develop a product
pre-revenue how are you finding initial
interest or finding these potential
customers is it through your network you
know how are you generating initial
interest in in your application
yeah so so some some of it is of course
Network and then the other part is that
I always
we we do do some inbound marketing
experiments so we set up some blending
pages and then we you know do some ads
and different channels and see what
comes in with very limited time and
resources you know as I said before I
have previously built a SAS company and
what I've found is that outbound
email or just in general outbound is a
as a great and efficient way to iterate
your
you know messages and get to get to
product Market fit fairly quickly so
this is also what we do here and I think
by now
there is at the time it was still kind
of a secret in 20 not a secret but it
wasn't as you know known in the market
in 2015 by now I think everybody can
manage to find a service that tells you
at least the basics of how to do
outbound and you can take that and then
iterate from there
so so that's
that's what we do just outbound email
network network and a very very little
bit of marketing imbalance so yeah yeah
so interest so inbound marketing a
little bit of that but outbound email
and I love that iterating on your
message till you find that product
Market fit or that message that
resonates with with your prospects and
so you recently raised a precede round
of it looks like two and a half million
and is that total Capital raised to date
that you can disclose at this point
yeah so we so we raised actually
significantly more money than that in
the meantime but that's not yet
announced okay all right really
interesting I will look forward to that
announcement and so tell me what you
know I usually ask you what triggers are
Milestones that led to this raise but
you're pre-revenue so
tell us about that process to go out and
find investors you know what helped in
that process was it you know because you
previously founded a company what helped
you raise the two and a half million
with no Revenue
sure so yeah I mean you know having
having built a 10 million AR business
certainly you know that's I'm not I'm
not one of the fund returners and not
one of the Unicorn Founders but it does
certainly help
but at the same time
we my co-founder and I just literally
published a you know a kind of five
phrase or so LinkedIn announcement and
then there just happened to be
a lead investor with more than 20 years
experience in our specific
space who just from those few sentences
exactly understood what we do and then
kind of pitched pitched back to us why
they thought this was a great
opportunity
so so the track the track record helped
me to build a little bit of competition
around the timesheet that we got from
this investor
but the the timesheet was really I think
a lucky coincidence that there was
someone who loved the space had had a
pre-existing thesis and that person also
happened to be connected to me on
LinkedIn yeah so big big
yeah I wish I could claim we're just
great but I think it was a bit of a
lucky Punch or lucky coincidence yeah
yeah yeah so maybe for the other
Founders listening maybe maybe not a
repeatable motion to find an investor
but you're saying you just published a
post on LinkedIn right you know what
you're up to with this new with this new
Endeavor and so just randomly an
investor with experience in the space
saw this and said yes I'm interested
because they believe in that space
that's that's right yes so I guess what
we what may be repeatable is building a
bit of something to network with with
investors and then keeping them engaged
this is actually something that I've
learned from you know previous
fundraisers that
I guess I guess the common pattern that
I see between this fundraise and the
other is that something that my father
always told me is you know luck is when
preparation meets opportunity and I
guess
you know 10 years of or close to 10
years of building Network
with VCS
is is the preparation and then you get
lucky and and maybe for the younger
folks that if there's any kind of
younger founder listening which I think
is maybe the direction that we're taking
this I actually did that similarly when
I started my first company so at the
University I knew I was going to start a
business eventually so I started
organizing you know events for other
Founders invited investors in that way I
built a network and and because of that
I already had a pre-existing Network by
the time that I
um that I started the first company
and that that helped us raise
less money admittedly as first-time
funders but at least you know we raised
the money within two months or so that
we needed to sustain ourselves for the
first 18 months
yeah and great advice and that was my
next question tips and tricks
fundraising lessons but it sounds like
of course comes back to the network
again whether you're looking for a new
job new position network is important
but also fundraising you built that
Network you've maintained that Network
and then you know your network through
Linkedin just happened to pay off in
this case and so they had that
repeatable motion is you know work on
that Network and maintain that Network
well that's one thing the other thing
particularly that I've seen so I was in
Europe and I asked myself at the time
and then I read a lot of content around
well you don't want to screw up your cap
table early which I think a lot of
European Founders used to do at the time
maybe still do today
and so I asked myself why is it that
American investors are paying higher
relations it's just a market or is there
something else so I flew to the I flew
to San Francisco talked to people there
talked to Siri talk to people in Zurich
Berlin and so on
um and one one thing I found is the the
typical founder I talked to in
Switzerland and it's you know spoke to
maybe 1050 investors and it ended up
being sad if they got only one or a bad
timesheet
and the average founder in the valley
was talking 200 or more investors of
course in the valley that's a lot easier
because the density of investors is much
higher it's changing you know slowly in
Europe but then I unders you know it was
quite clear to me that if I speak if I'm
going to speak to 100 investors and
that's exactly the goal that I said was
for myself and that's exactly what we
did for each round
and I still use that as a metric
today and I learned and and yeah so this
this quantity was one thing
because you know with experience I guess
you learn to recognize who is a good fit
or not a bit earlier maybe nowadays I
don't need to speak to 100 people for a
round anymore but
but still I even even with you know
having gone through
I guess I'd have gone through or advised
on more than a dozen funding grounds in
you know I I there are still factors
that I cannot Prospect from the internet
where a lot of people that I think
should be interested drop off so I still
need to do a little bit of you know
quantity to make sure that I end up with
a good deal
so it sounds like experience of course
key and fundraising and talking to
another founder he said you know I think
through his experience he could tell
within the first five minutes of talking
to a potential investor whether there
was going to be any fit with this
investor do you kind of have built up
that same experience and intuition when
you talk to investor can you tell within
the first five minutes that they may or
may not be a fit
I would say I can tell within typically
you see within the first few minutes
if they already have a thesis on your
space and actually like what you do and
and they understand they conceptually
understand it
I think that that much you can tell
but whether they're a fit or not made
you know I don't think you can tell in
five minutes because there are lots of
other considerations
like you know to me the references you
know how how have they behaved on
on
announced an unannounced board positions
that they held previously
so
so are they you know are they generally
interested in what we do I think that
you can typically tell in a very short
amount of time
but from there to to qualifying investor
properly is still a long way to go okay
well that makes a ton of sense and
that's really fair that maybe in that
first five minutes you can tell do they
actually understand your Niche which
comes up a lot when I talk to SAS
Founders you know they may know
technology or they may know AI they may
know SAS but do they really know your
Niche your space within that sector
which it sounds like you're talking to
so yeah that's that's great advice
really fair so really you'll appreciate
the Insight so what's next for your
company what's coming up next that's
exciting
well a lot of things so there is on on
several levels so on the one hand
we know today that our model has learned
things about the physics of the
atmosphere that are unknown to
scientists now or at least not have
never been modeled by scientists before
you know the model being a machine
learning model we now have to figure out
what exactly those things are that we
learned so this is this is and how can
we tell because if we give the model the
same input data then it's you know it
gets better results as an output and so
that's that's very exciting on a
scientific level on the other side we're
right you know we're in negotiation for
the first
kind of handful of of commercial
contracts so that's a very exciting time
you know who says they will open their
wallet and who will actually do it who
you know in this in this special time
actually ends up working with us so
that's quite exciting
and then
third where you know we're right now
fairly well
funded but as a result of
you know once
once we're further ahead in the release
of our product
and on the commercial traction side
we're very likely going to raise again
although you know we actually don't need
that for for some time
but I always think
fundraisers are exciting
I guess I'm now a lot less excited about
the money that's more just a necessity
to get the job done but
but it's always exciting because you do
ask yourself the big questions and you
do get challenged left and right on all
kind of little details and and it does
make you or it does make me at least
reflect a lot and and I like that so
those are some exciting things and then
yeah I think those are the key yeah the
key ones yeah so I'm sure a lot coming
up for the company so exciting early
negotiation for your first commercial
contracts always exciting and Andreas
really appreciate your time today share
your story and your background if more
if our listeners would look like to
learn more about you and your company
where should we send them online
so first of all of course our very
limited website.ai
but especially if you're a Founder
you'll you'll be smart enough to figure
out by email address so just just email
me
or or connect I am actually active on
LinkedIn so you can also find me on
on LinkedIn and connect me there and as
much time as I have available I'd like
to pay it forward so if I can you know
help anyone
I will yeah well appreciate that so if
you'd like to learn more about joa check
out j u a DOT a i and you can probably
figure out andreas's email address there
and then look them up on LinkedIn pretty
easy to find him on LinkedIn if you'd
like to learn more about what he's up to
and Andreas really appreciate your time
today and sharing your story
thank you very much
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