Overstory

Here at Overstory, we’re harnessing AI to enable a resilient electrical grid that keeps communities thriving as our world changes—and we're hiring. Our investors at B Capital put together a short video to help you get to know us in less than 60 seconds. 👋 Check it out. https://lnkd.in/eN-x7qne Interested in helping to solve the climate crisis? Take a peek at (20+) open roles and join us. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gk6G-wwZ

Overstory exists because of the utilities we partner with. 🤝 From the start, we’ve worked closely with our customers to build a product that meets the needs of operations teams—adapting, listening, and ensuring teams are able to use our vegetation intelligence to make a real difference in grid resilience. That collaboration has shaped our technology and made our impact possible. “We intentionally, in the beginning, focused on building the product with co-ops because we thought that would be a good place to start. And now of course we have quite a few of the biggest investor-owned utilities as customers. We love utilities and think they’re a wonderful market to be focused on." -Fiona Spruill, CEO In this episode of Watt It Takes with Emily Kirsch, Fiona shares a peek behind the curtain into her journey to Overstory, why utilities are such a special industry, and the partnerships that drive our work. 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eqpmDYgh 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e6wsH5vQ

Growing wildfire risk across the US isn't just a result of changing temperatures. Sweeping tree health concerns and drastic swings in rainfall are making conditions ripe (even in the East) for catastrophic blazes. Months ago, Hurricane Helene ravaged communities around Asheville, North Carolina. Days ago, wildfires swept through the Carolinas—some fueled by the downed trees left in Helene's wake. 🌀 The impacts of increasingly volatile weather will continue to compound. Our ability to survive and thrive in this new normal depends on our ability to mitigate critical fire risk before it ever materializes. What does that look like for utilities? System-wide situational awareness. Data-driven vegetation management. Strategic fuel mitigation. Close partnerships with fire districts and nearby communities. Thank you to the teams working tirelessly to keep our communities safe. We appreciate you. https://lnkd.in/es9ziZxM

This week at NARUC's winter policy summit, our team heard a striking stat: 25% of utility ratings downgrades in recent years have been due to extreme weather events. "In the news are SoCal wildfires, but particularly concerning to us are the wildfires in the Northeast. It's important to learn from both the fires that materialize and the near misses—and it's naive to think anyone is immune to that risk—so it's important that we take steps to reduce the wildfire risk that's growing across the US." -S&P Global's Gabe Grosberg The severity, frequency, and financial consequences of wildfires are growing. In this changing landscape, utilities can't afford to rely on institutional knowledge, time-based cycles, or paper maps alone to keep pace with growing wildfire risk across their networks. System-wide, data-driven situational awareness is table stakes for safe, reliable power. We're proud to serve the utilities facing such enormous, important challenges, and excited at the opportunity they afford. Our sincere thanks to the teams at NARUC and Edison Electric Institute for facilitating such valuable conversations as we all work together in service of a more resilient grid.

Last week Team Notion touched down in Amsterdam for our latest event alongside our friends at CapitalT! 🛬 🇳🇱 It was an action-packed day full of invaluable learnings in building world-class business software companies. Topics and speakers included: - Kamil Mieczakowski on AI in the SaaS landscape - Michelle Cheng on leading and hiring through scale - Eva De Mol Ph.D (CapitalT) speaking to Roeland Delrue (Aikido Security), Fiona Spruill (Overstory) and Namrata Sandhu (Vaayu) on their fundraising journeys - Harrison Rose (GoodFit.io) on GTM-fit experiements Stephen Millard introducing the Cloud Champions report, in conversation with Matthijs Welle (Mews) and Job van der Voort (Remote) Thanks to everyone who joined us... where to next? Claire Walker, Radu Bozga, Maximilian Eichler

The threat of catastrophic wildfire is growing, but technology can change the trajectory of disaster prevention and response. ✨ Join us at the Upfront Summit to catch our CEO, Fiona Spruill, on this panel of experts as they discuss the key ways innovation is reshaping wildfire mitigation and the future of community resilience.

“For over 100 years, the motto has been: reliability first, no matter what . . . Now because of the way things have evolved and the way that risk has increased, there are times when the conditions are to a certain threshold that public safety outweighs reliability. This new normal has been one of our biggest challenges.” -Anne Sherwood, VP Wildfire Mitigation Policy at Xcel Energy As wildfires grow more destructive, the role of electric utilities in both preventing and igniting these disasters is under increasing scrutiny. Colorado ranks #2 in the US for homes at risk from wildfire, with nearly half of the state’s population living in the wildland-urban interface. Thanks to Andrea Kramar at Rocky Mountain PBS for this great read on: ⚡ How utilities are working to mitigate fire risk 🔌 Why aging infrastructure remains a critical challenge 🛑 The future of public safety power shut-offs in Colorado 💰 The rising cost of wildfire prevention and its impact on consumers Read the article: https://lnkd.in/eSkSPfYa

On a recent episode of Trees & Lines: A Utility Vegetation Management Podcast, the team interviewed Jeff Wissing, Vegetation Manager at Holy Cross Energy, about how his team is tackling wildfire risks, customer expectations, and grid resilience. Jeff shared his journey from dragging and chipping brush during the summer after high school to leading an innovative vegetation management program. Key Takeaways 👇 🔥 Mitigating Critical Wildfire Risk: With Colorado’s ongoing drought, wildfire prevention is the top priority. Holy Cross has implemented a proactive approach, integrating predictive risk modeling and advanced field monitoring to safeguard critical infrastructure. 🔄 Optimizing VM Cycles: Moving beyond fixed trim cycles, they now deploy crews where data shows the greatest need, improving response times and reducing unnecessary maintenance costs. 🤝 Collaborating for Better Results: Partnering with Overstory since 2019 has helped the team optimize their VM cycle and mitigate wildfire risk, refining the model for their rugged terrain along the way, ensuring data accuracy and practical implementation in challenging landscapes. 🌎 Adapting to Market and Climate Challenges: Holy Cross continuously refines its approach to climate and market shifts, integrating emerging technologies, workforce strategies, and policy-driven adaptations to build long-term resilience. 🎧 Tune in to hear how Holy Cross is using tech to enable a more resilient grid: https://lnkd.in/ehws8Qnq

If you're going to this year's KubeCon EU, be sure to catch our own Andrea Giardini for his talk on cloud-native infrastructure for wildfire risk mitigation. 🧯 📅 Friday April 4, 2025 @ 11:00 - 11:30 BST 📍 Room 4 You'll get a peek behind the curtain at the architectural considerations and operational challenges of deploying an effective, resilient wildfire monitoring and prevention infrastructure.

📢 Ok, LinkedIn friends: in response to the devastating #LAFires, we are pulling together a list of Geospatial and Earth Observation Open Data sources at Development Seed. If you'd like to help us, please list any known sources in the comments. We'd love to find a way to simplify this for disaster response mapping, analysis, and journalism. And, of course, we will make it massively open. Thank you in advance! 🙏 📷 : satellite imagery via Maxar Open Data. The first image is spectral response from infrared wavelength - the red signifies vegetation that is healthy. #OpenData #PalisadesFire #EatonFire #DisasterResponse