What do you get when you mix AI, climate urgency, and a 360-degree view of chaos before it becomes catastrophe?
You get Pano AI, the San Francisco-based climate tech company that just raised $44 million in Series B funding to scale global wildfire detection like it’s deploying a tactical network, not a weather app.
Founded by Sonia Kastner (CEO) and Arvind Satyam (Chief Commercial Officer), Pano AI isn’t playing the “move fast, break things” game. They’re moving precisely, watching everything, and preventing the break before it happens. With this round led by Giant Ventures, and heavy hitters like Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Tokio Marine Future Fund, and returning champions Salesforce Ventures, Congruent Ventures, and Initialized Capital, the total war chest now stands at $89 million.
Wildfires scorched nearly a billion acres last year. This isn’t hypothetical disruption, it’s climate reality. And Pano AI is building what amounts to a digital fire perimeter around the most vulnerable terrain on the planet.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t a startup throwing hype at a burning forest. This team built a tech stack so smart it uses deep learning, computer vision, satellite imagery, and panoramic cameras with 30x zoom to detect smoke before your cousin Dave even finishes his backyard s’more. And every AI detection is human-verified, because real stakes need real confirmation.
They’re in 10 U.S. states, 5 in Australia, and British Columbia, already protecting over 30 million acres. More than 250 first responder agencies rely on Pano AI’s intel, along with 15 major U.S. utilities like Xcel Energy, Arizona Public Service, and Portland General Electric.
This is climate tech with a backbone. A platform built on ISO certified security and patented triangulation tech, offering precision alerts to decision-makers in government, utilities, and renewable energy sectors. When the Bear Creek Fire hit Colorado last June, Pano AI called it in, fast and clear.
Sonia Kastner’s experience at Nest and PAX shows in the hardware integration. Arvind Satyam’s Cisco pedigree and World Economic Forum affiliations show in the global strategy. The rest of the squad? Ex-Amazon, Meta, Tesla, Apple, JUUL, DoorDash, Giffords, you name it, they’ve walked the fireline of Silicon Valley.
Pano AI isn’t just scaling infrastructure. They’re building climate resilience into the DNA of how we respond to disaster. This isn’t a vision, it’s operational.
