Web3 network WeatherXM raises $5 million in seed funding

Weather XM, a weather network that utilizes crypto incentives to improve the accuracy of forecasts, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Placeholder VC. 

According to a news release, other investors in the round included Metaplanet, ConsenSys Mesh, Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, dlab SOSV and DLTx. 

Weather XM's personal weather stations, priced at $420, began shipping earlier this year and it claims that it has more than 4,000 pre-orders for its next-generation devices, due to ship in the third quarter. 

These stations allow owners to become weather station operators and earn rewards for collecting and validating data. The company says that this decentralized internet of things model should result in increased accuracy of forecasts for areas that lack weather infrastructure. 

“The current weather data collection and forecasting model is mostly designed, funded and operated by governments," said WeatherXM CEO Manolis Nikiforakis in a statement. "We all take advantage of it every day but it's far from perfect as data collection requirements are completely different per use-case and often government priorities are not aligned with people’s needs." 

The project is in the early stages, currently in beta. Its token rewards are still on the Polygon testnet, with a mainnet launch being prepared. 

WeatherXM isn't the only company working to create a decentralized IoT business model that has raised funds recently. Earlier this week, web3 vehicle network Peaq raised $6 million in a round led by Fundamental Labs. 

Earlier this year, decentralized wireless network Helium raised $200 million in a round that included investors Tiger Global and FTX Ventures.