A Colorado startup helping industries like oil and gas analyze and understand large swaths of geospatial data has raised a $4 million seed funding as it sees a rapid adoption of its technology.
Teren, formerly SolSpec, recently announced the rebrand and $4 million seed funding, which was led by Allos Ventures. The AI machine learning software and content company is primarily focused on delivering analysis of remotely sensed geospatial data, including environmental threats.
Led by Colorado State University graduate Toby Kraft, Teren has evolved from SolSpec’s early days as a service provider with drone roots to a data-driven startup harnessing liDAR and other Earth observation datasets.
Teren works primarily with midstream oil and gas companies, helping them identify where vulnerabilities exist within their asset footprint. The company has seen its product succeed in the Appalachian basin, an area where tough terrain often leads to pipeline failures from landslides.
“We are able to measure change over time as it relates to those features and that helps them better prioritize and allocate where they’re going to yield the greatest benefit from those dollars,” Kraft said about oil and gas maintenance efforts.
As Teren grows, it is applying its technology to the insurance, solar, environmental and transportation industries to help address climate risk issues affecting their assets. For example, Teren has developed pre-burn and post-burn analytics to improve wildfire mitigation and response.
And, while Kraft said the company is frequently aligned with what some people consider “the evil empire” of the oil and gas industry, he said that Teren has an altruistic mission.
“We truly feel like we’re doing good, we’re reducing risk, protecting human life, protecting the environment and our customers feel good about that too,” he said.
The company’s recent funding round coincides with an increased global interest in environmental and social governance efforts, Kraft said. Teren was able to attract ESG-focused investors such as Allos Ventures, which led the seed round with its $2.5 million investment, as well as Ascent Energy Ventures.
“We weren’t just getting credit for what our P&L looks like, we were getting credit for how the world is transitioning to account and treat these things a little different in the investment space,” Kraft said.
With this funding, Teren is set to grow its nearly 20-person team to around 40 by the end of next year, with a path to about 70 employees in 2023. The main focus of those hires will be on the startup’s commercial team and data engineering roles.
"Teren is leading the way in geospatial software innovations," said Don Aquilano, co-founder and managing partner at Allos Ventures, in a statement. "We believe that this new standard set by Teren will propel the industry forward while continuing to offer companies valuable data to shift their relationship with the environment and climate risk in a positive direction."
