The round, which brings Pano’s total funding to $89 million, was led by Giant Ventures and included new strategic participation from Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Tokio Marine Future Fund. Existing backers Congruent Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Salesforce Ventures also contributed. With four years of rapid revenue growth and contracted revenue now exceeding $100 million, Pano AI’s technology is already helping monitor nearly 30 million acres globally.
Sonia Kastner, co-founder and CEO of Pano AI, emphasized the company’s urgent mission: “We founded Pano AI based on one core belief: that the time to adapt to extreme weather events is now. Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more destructive every year, and we have built powerful tools to put in the hands of emergency managers on the front lines to help combat this crisis. This additional capital allows us to accelerate our mission to equip first responders with the best technology to protect communities, safeguard our critical infrastructure, and build a more resilient future.”
Pano AI’s system uses continuous monitoring and real-time situational awareness powered by AI to detect smoke early and enable faster emergency responses. The technology is designed to assist emergency managers in identifying and locating wildfires within minutes, giving them the lead time to deploy aerial and ground assets before fires escalate. In 2024 alone, wildfires burned nearly one billion acres worldwide – a stark reminder of the scale of the threat Pano is addressing.
The funding round’s lead investor, Giant Ventures, sees Pano AI as a transformative force. Cameron McLain, co-founder and managing partner at Giant, noted, “At Giant, we look for category-defining companies solving critical global challenges through the application of frontier technology. Pano AI is creating a new layer of resilience that will massively reduce the impact of increasingly frequent fire events.”
Tokio Marine Holdings also recognized the role technology must play in the climate era. “Pano is creating the early detection infrastructure needed in wildfire-exposed regions of North America and Australia, but this is now a global challenge and we are proud to join Pano on its mission,” said Masashi Namatame, group chief digital officer at Tokio Marine. “We are committed to combating wildfire and other risks rising with climate change, and we are focused on investing in technologies and partnerships that help entire communities prepare, respond, and recover more effectively.”
The real-world impact of Pano AI’s technology was demonstrated on June 16, 2024, when the Bear Creek Fire ignited in remote Bennett Mountain, Colorado. During Red Flag conditions, a lightning strike triggered the blaze in a critical watershed area. Pano AI detected the smoke and provided triangulated coordinates within minutes, prompting a rapid helitack response. As helicopters dropped nearly 18,000 gallons of water, a 40-person ground crew hiked two hours to reach the fire, which was ultimately contained to just three acres. Mike Alexander, director of emergency management for Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, reflected on the significance of the technology: “In today’s wildfire environment, every minute counts. Pano AI gave us early confirmation and precise coordinates that allowed us to launch a rapid aerial and ground attack in a remote watershed that provides drinking water to over one million people. That critical lead time helped us contain the Bear Creek Fire before it became a more destructive event. Overall, Pano has become an essential part of how we conduct modern wildland fire fighting in Douglas County.”
Since its founding in 2020 by Kastner and co-founder Arvind Satyam, Pano AI has rapidly become one of the most well-funded wildfire technology companies in the world. A founding member of the Association of Firetech Innovation, the company is now used by over 250 first responder agencies across 10 U.S. states, five Australian states, and British Columbia.
The technology has also gained the trust of 15 major U.S. electric utilities, including Arizona Public Service, Portland General Electric, and Xcel Energy, as well as nearly 40 organizations spanning government, renewable energy, forestry, ski resorts, and community associations. Maria Pope, president and CEO of Portland General Electric, stressed the platform’s value: “At Portland General Electric, we’re focused on strengthening grid resilience while working in close partnership with the communities we serve. Pano AI’s early detection technology gives us the real-time visibility we need to reduce our risk from wildfire threats. It’s a critical element of our broader strategy to protect people, infrastructure, and essential service during increasingly complex fire seasons.”
As fire seasons grow longer and more volatile, Pano AI is poised to play a central role in how societies detect, respond to, and ultimately reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires.
