TOKYO, JAPAN — (Marketwired) — 05/20/15 — Weathernews Inc. Japan (4825: JP), the global weather company, today announced it has acquired , the Boston-based social weather company to create a leading social weather prediction platform for highly accurate forecasts using on-the-ground weather observation and reporting. Founder and CEO of Weathermob Julia LeStage joins Weathernews as Chief Editorial Officer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Weathernews Inc. Japan has already proven the crowdsourced weather data model and is looking to increase its global reach. With the new Weathermob relationship, Weathernews is poised to become a major world-wide weather cooperative with enough truly global critical mass to generate very precise weather data through integrating diverse datasets and user-centric weather reporting.

With users in 140 countries, Weathermob has been building the world–s largest weather community to bring deeper, more delightful and safer weather data from the people who are experiencing the weather first hand across geographic regions. Through its enhanced social sharing features, Weathermob has made anyone with an iPhone into a weather reporter and has been developing a large, unique and valuable dataset.

“This acquisition is a harmonious and mutually advantageous partnership between two companies committed to building social weather platforms where our users know what the weather is where they are and enjoy sharing that data with everyone,” said Tomohiro Ishibashi, Director of Weathernews. “Weathernews has been very successful because weather forecasts are based on users– uploaded reports, comments and photos — providing excellent real-time information and when partnered with Weathermob, provides extremely reliable forecasts that are even more accurate than the national weather bureaus– forecasts.”

Differentiating themselves in an industry that is highly reliant on the government–s national weather service, both Weathermob and Weathernews have established themselves as premier social weather platforms. These organizations deliver up-to-the second information on what is happening at any particular place on the globe, based on data from their users, unlike the traditional weather reporting services that provide limited, traditional 7-day forecasts, often with long time delays.

“The weather changes very quickly and traditional weather services cannot always reflect what is actually happening in real-time and mobile infrastructure allows for on the ground observations to have even more impact in 2015,” said Julia LeStage, founder and CEO, Weathermob. “The Weathermob –weather army– of users is a powerful source of information. Weather models for forecasts need data, and with Weathermob now working with Weathernews we can continue to help create and collect that data and fill in many of the gaps in the world–s weather system together. The result could benefit millions of lives in some of the poorest places around the world and having more precise weather forecasts and reports has a direct impact on business everywhere. My co-founders Frank Lampen, Ben Griffiths, Tori Hackett and Michael Nicholas worked very hard on Weathermob–s reach and data; I am delighted we can now share it with Weathernews in this new global relationship.”

The Weathermob app has over 400,000 downloads and more than 100,000 monthly active users, with an average of 6 minute session times. Weather and climate data is an enormous and important business that extends far beyond the traditional forecast arena and dominates economies, let alone lives. A 2011 report from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture and every other economic sector are sensitive to changes in the weather, and may add up to as much as $485B in the US alone.

Weathernews is the largest private weather information service company in the world with a proven track record of disaster mitigation and advanced warning services, and the only company with a proven business model in a social weather community where weather enthusiasts can connect deeply on a more personal, social, and local level. The release of the Sunnycomb app for iOS and Android in 2013 was the company–s first foray into the global consumer market beyond Japan.

Media contact:
Erica Zeidenberg
Hot Tomato for Weathernews Inc.
925-631-0553

  apps, crowdsourced, mobile, national-weather-bureaus, social-sharing, weather, weather-data