February 02, 2023

Previsico’s CEO + co-founder on predicting and preventing flood risk

39 minutes

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Dr. Avi Baruch, co-founder and COO of Previsico, and Jonathan Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Previsico. Previsico is a specialist in surface water flood forecasting, enabling people and organisations to minimise the impact of flooding.

Flooding cost the global economy more than $82 billion in 2021, accounting for nearly a third of all losses from natural catastrophes, according to a 2022 study by the Swiss Re Institute. Estimates from Statista show that 29 million people were affected by Flooding in 2021. Flooding is the second-largest weather-related peril after droughts.

During the course of the podcast, Avi, Jonathan, and Sabine discuss: 1) Flooding and the difference between natural hazards and man-made disasters, 2) Previsico’s four step-method to reduce flood risk, 3) build back better and why we ought to protect the small and medium-sized business from flooding, 4) protect, predict, prevent and 5) top tips to reduce the risk of flood.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

During my PhD, I realized academia wasn’t for me, but I saw so much potential in the technology we were building to monitor floodwater in real time and issue early warnings. I felt the only way to really get it to be used effectively on the ground was to spin out the company. We explored quite a few markets to find which would be best served by it, and that’s where I met Johnathan.

To reduce flood risk, we recommend four main steps: Step 1 – Understand your risk. There are a lot of really good risk-monitoring products already out there on the market. Step 2 – Invest in the right risk measures, such as flood defences or non-return valves. Step 3 – Have a flood action plan: know what to do when you’re expecting a flood, move stock, turn off electricity, and identify who’s responsible for the response. Step 4 – Use an early warning system. This is the final part of the jigsaw when building flood resistance. If you take all those steps, you can substantially reduce the risk and hopefully prevent a disaster from ever occurring.

Resilience measures are often really simple things, like turning off the gas, electricity, and water. That alone can save a huge amount. Moving your car to a safer place is really simple stuff that makes a huge difference. People in communities like Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, for example, where back in 2015 they were closed down for months after a flood, are not reopening after three days; it’s a massive change because they understand what to do. Other communities that are not used to floods are more challenging because you’ve got to know what to do with the warning you’ve been given.

COP26 made a big play around the fact that the UK government cannot defend the country against floods, the country has to learn to adapt to floods, and adaptation means starting to take responsibility for flood plans and resilience measures. That’s being backed up by the insurance industry making really important moves in terms of ‘build back better’, where a property has been hit by flood, that homeowner will be given up to £10,000 additional funding by a number of insurers to help them put in flood resilience measures to protect against flood going forward.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Flood risk is rising, there’s more extreme weather, the weather is more volatile, climate change is causing heavier downpours – particularly in the summer – and longer, wetter winters.’

‘There’s no such thing as a natural disaster. There are natural hazards and human disasters. If you know where the hazard is going to be and you are able to prepare for it effectively, it doesn’t need to be a disaster.’

‘If people are used to having to cope with floods, they tend to know what to do. Our solution is a great value-add that we can bring to that situation.’

‘We shouldn’t be building new developments on floodplains, especially when we haven’t fully addressed the impact that flooding will have on those properties.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Avi Baruch

Jonathan Jackson

ABOUT PREVISICO

Previsico is a surface water flood forecasting specialist enabling people and organisations to minimise the impact of flooding. Backed by Foresight Group and underpinned by two decades of research at Loughborough University, Previsico’s world-leading solution is used by insurers, businesses, and the government to reduce losses. Our mission is to be the leading global provider of cutting-edge flood prediction that saves lives and livelihoods while significantly reducing the cost of flooding. Having launched in January 2019, we have a growing team of ~25 people with offices in Loughborough and London.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

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