Jonathan Jackson, CEO of Previsico, discusses forecasting surface water flooding and scaling a university spin-out on Episode 30 of Scaling Green Tech, a podcast by Adopter.

Previsico gives property-level flood warnings up to 48 hours ahead. Jackson explains that surface water is now close to 60% of UK flood risk, driven by a changing climate, urbanisation and ageing drainage. The company began as a Loughborough University spin-out built on Professor Dapeng Yu's flood model, with the UK government as its first customer, which reversed the usual startup order of finding a problem before building a product. Jackson traces the commercial journey from Innovate UK grant funding and an angel round through venture backing from Foresight Group, and into the US via a customer-led, site-by-site expansion rather than a country-by-country one.

This episode is relevant for climate adaptation founders, deep tech and university spin-out teams, insurtech and climate tech investors, and B2B founders working out how to sell a preventative product to a market that underestimates its own risk.

Guest profile

Jonathan Jackson is the CEO of Previsico. He describes himself as an entrepreneur rather than a scientist, having started in telecoms before building several businesses that moved offline industries online, including Farming Online, which he describes as the UK's longest-running B2B internet business. He joined Previsico after becoming entrepreneur in residence at Loughborough University, where he met the company's scientific founders and helped spin the business out.

Previsico is a flood forecasting company that provides property-level surface water flood warnings up to 48 hours in advance, combining a hydrodynamic flood model with real-time weather data and IoT sensors. The company was spun out of Loughborough University and works with insurers, corporates, councils and housing associations in the UK and, increasingly, the US.

Company website: https://previsico.com/

Find Jonathan Jackson on LinkedIn.

Topics covered

Explaining flood forecasting simply, and the surface water flooding gap
Why surface water is now the biggest and hardest-to-predict UK flood risk
Launching with the product built and the government as first customer
Working with academic founders versus commercial and developer teams
Raising as a university spin-out: grants, angels and proof points
Sequencing fundraising around insurer contracts and venture rounds
Differences between UK and US investors and due diligence
Customer-led international expansion versus country-by-country growth
Marketing a preventative product to a market that underestimates its risk
Case studies and social proof as the core marketing asset
Selling climate adaptation without relying on climate belief
Building a commercially driven business with a social mission