Speedwell Climate, parametric & index data / settlement specialist, acquired by Vaisala

Speedwell Climate, a leading provider of weather, catastrophe and climate data, indices and settlement services, has been acquired by Vaisala, a global company focused on provision of measurement instruments and intelligence for climate action.

Vaisala aims to expand its activities in helping organisations to mitigate weather-related financial risks with the acquisition, while also expanding its subscription-based business.

It also marks Vaisala’s entry into the insurance segment, with Speedwell’s suite of data services and tools already extensively used by insurance and reinsurance markets, as well as corporations, to protect themselves from financial losses caused by weather-related uncertainties.

Speedwell’s data and software is used to structure, price, and settle index-based climate risk transfer contracts.

The company was first prevalent in the weather derivatives marketplace and has over recent years been increasingly adopted by those trading in parametric insurance, reinsurance and risk transfer.

Speedwell already serves re/insurance market participants, investment funds, including in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, and corporations such as in renewable energy, and works with the CME Group.

Vaisala said the acquisition of Speedwell strengthens its position as a global leader in its field, aligning with its strategy to build recurring revenue in data, and to create opportunities to broaden offerings and scale growth within both existing and new customer segments.

“The combined skills and dataset of Speedwell Climate and Vaisala Xweather bring new opportunities to help customers mitigate and adapt to climate change. With weather becoming increasingly unpredictable, organizations need new tools to manage their risk position. We are very excited to welcome the skilled Speedwell Climate people to our team – together, we can turn weather anxiety into weather confidence,” explained Samuli Hänninen, Head of Vaisala Xweather.

The acquisition of Speedwell Climate Ltd and its group companies is subject to regulatory approval and likely to be closed in Q4 2024. Speedwell was formed in 1999 and was a very early player in the weather derivatives market, later moving into parametric insurance as that market expanded in the 2000’s.