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AI-driven weather balloons hope to make weather forecasts more accurate

This summer is expected to be one of the busiest hurricane seasons in history, according to the annual forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The frequency and intensity of the storms are increasing. Weather prediction is more critical than ever.

Artificial intelligence has made the weather forecasting market increasingly crowded. From hurricanes and tornadoes to wildfires and drought, fresh technology is revolutionizing science and the industry. Investors see a big opportunity, especially in startups.

Entrants to the field like Tomorrow.io, Google DeepMind, and California-based Windborne are using new technologies to detect weather events. Windborne uses a new type of weather balloon, for example.

“We operate the most comprehensive balloon constellation on the planet,” said John Dean, CEO and co-founder of Windborne. “We also do AI-based weather modeling. And so our mission is to mitigate the most disruptive aspects of climate change.”

Windborne’s balloons can fly for weeks, as opposed to today’s government-launched weather balloons which stay aloft for just a few hours and can’t reach remote locations.

“This means that we can collect roughly 40 to 50 times more data per balloon, and we can also collect this data over oceans and over under-observed areas by launching easy-to-reach launch sites and then flying over oceans and collecting data in situations as needed,” Dean explained.

The balloons use satellite communication to deliver their data in real-time. The world currently lacks weather data for 85% of the atmosphere, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Windborne’s goal is to close this gap with its technology — using fewer balloons to offer global coverage.

Demand for data from government and big business is driving funding. Windborne just closed a $15 million round with lead investor Khosla Ventures.

“It’s about a $100 billion market now, and it touches pretty much every industry,” Sven Strohband, partner and managing director at Khosla Ventures, said of the weather forecasting market. “It hasn’t really been meaningfully disrupted since the Weather Company in the 1990s. So that makes it a very attractive market for us.”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently said extreme weather and weather uncertainty present the biggest risks to businesses over the next decade. Windborne claims its technology can make a two-week forecast as accurate as today’s two-day forecast.

In addition to Khosla Ventures, Windborne is backed by Footwork VC, Pear VC, Convective Capital, Ubiquity Ventures and Susa Ventures. The company has raised $25 million to date.

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Workday stock slips on light quarterly forecast

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Workday stock slips on light quarterly forecast

Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach walks to a morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 14, 2023.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

Workday shares slipped as much as 11% in extended trading Tuesday after the human resources and finance software maker issued a quarterly forecast that came in below Wall Street projections.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, Workday called for an adjusted operating margin of 25% on $2.03 billion in subscription revenue. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were looking for a 25.5% margin and $2.04 billion in subscription revenue.

Here’s how the company performed during the fiscal third quarter compared with the consensus among analysts surveyed by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: $1.89 adjusted vs. $1.76 expected
  • Revenue: $2.16 billion vs. $2.13 billion expected

Workday’s total revenue grew about 16% year over year in the quarter ended Oct. 31, according to a statement. Subscription revenue totaled $1.96 billion, up around 16%, consistent with the $1.96 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount.

The company reported net income of $193 million or 72 cents per share, up $114 million or 43 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago. The adjusted operating margin for the quarter was 26.3%. StreetAccount had expected 25.4%.

In some parts of the world, Workday is still facing more deal scrutiny than usual, Workday’s finance chief, Zane Rowe, said on a conference call with analysts.

Now the company is looking to grow its business in the U.S. government, CEO Carl Eschenbach said. “We think there’s a huge opportunity there with probably more than 80% of HCM and ERP still on premises,” he said, referring to human capital management and enterprise resource planning.

Earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump announced plans for an advisory panel called the “Department of Government Efficiency.”

“People are absolutely looking to drive more economies of scale and more efficiency,” Eschenbach said.

Workday said Rob Enslin, the former Google and SAP executive who stepped down as UiPath CEO in June, was joining as president and chief commercial officer. In October, Workday told employees that Doug Robinson, a co-president, will retire.

During the quarter, Workday acquired contract lifecycle management software startup Evisort. Workday also said artificial intelligence agents for spotting inefficiencies, filing expense reports and updating succession plans would become available in early access in 2025.

“We think they’re going to have a nice impact on bookings and revenue as we go into the new year,” Eschenbach said.

Rowe called for $8.8 billion in fiscal year 2026 subscription revenue, good for 14% growth.

As of Tuesday’s close, Workday shares were down 2% in 2024, while the S&P 500 index had gained 26%.

WATCH: Slowinski: Oracle’s cloud growth is strong, while Salesforce and Workday face weaker demand

Slowinski: Oracle's cloud growth is strong, while Salesforce and Workday face weaker demand.

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Dell shares fall on light forecast despite growing AI sales

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Dell shares fall on light forecast despite growing AI sales

Dell Technologies forecast fourth-quarter revenue and earnings below Wall Street expectations Tuesday, despite bullish commentary from the company on AI sales growth. The PC maker reported quarterly earnings Tuesday that beat analyst expectations for earnings per share but came up light on overall revenue.

Shares fell 10% in after-hours trading.

Here’s how Dell did for the fiscal third quarter versus LSEG consensus estimates for the quarter ending Nov. 1:

  • Earnings per share: $2.15 adjusted versus $2.06 expected
  • Revenue: $24.4 billion versus $24.67 billion expected

Net income climbed 12% to $1.12 billion, or $1.58 per share, from about $1 billion, or $1.36 per share, in the year-ago period. Overall revenue increased about 10% from $22.25 billion a year ago.

Dell said it expected between $24 billion and $25 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter, less than LSEG expectations of $25.57 billion. It said it expected $2.50 in adjusted earnings per share, versus expectations of $2.65 per share.

Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clark told investors on the earnings call that growth from AI will change from quarter to quarter.

“This business will not be linear, especially as customers navigate an underlying silicon roadmap that is changing,” Clark said.

The company’s shares have risen 86% so far in 2024 as investors realize it’s one of the most important companies selling tools and systems for artificial intelligence developers.

Dell is a top vendor for computer clusters required to develop and deploy artificial intelligence, especially computers based around Nvidia chips. It competes against other server makers such as Super Micro Computer and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, as well as manufacturers in Asia.

Demand for Nvidia’s AI accelerators remains high from cloud providers, enterprises, and government institutions, who often buy systems installed with tens of thousands of AI chips. Dell sells the completed systems.

This year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang gave Dell and its founder, Michael Dell, a shout-out as the company to contact to place orders for its new Blackwell AI chips.

Dell executives said some of the demand from its customers was shifting to later quarters, waiting for Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell chips, which are in production now but have yet to ship to end-users in large quantities.

“We saw in Q3 a pretty rapid shift of the orders moving towards our Blackwell design,” Clark said.

Dell said much of its AI system growth was already reflected in a $4.5 billion pipeline of future orders.

“We’re only in the very early innings of enterprises learning how to deploy AI,” Clark said.

Dell’s AI server sales are reported in the company’s Infrastructure Solutions Group, which includes AI servers, storage, networking components, and traditional servers. The group’s revenue rose 34%, mostly driven by AI sales, to $11.4 billion.

The strongest part of Dell’s ISG business was its servers and networking subsidiary, which includes AI systems. Revenue rose 58% to $7.4 billion. Dell shipped $2.9 billion in AI servers during the quarter, and the company said during the quarter that customers had booked $3.6 billion of future AI server orders.

The company said increased AI server orders boosted demand by “double digits” for its traditional servers, which are less power-hungry and based around CPU chips from Intel or AMD, and can free up room or power inside data centers for companies investing heavily in AI infrastructure.

The company’s computer storage systems grew less strongly than servers, rising 4% to $4 billion. The overall ISG unit is more profitable, thanks to sales of pricier AI systems.

Dell’s Client Solutions Group, which sells PCs and laptops to consumers and enterprises, declined 1% on an annual basis to $12.1 billion.

While commercial clients buying PCs for their workforces rose 3% on an annual basis to $10.1 billion, the company’s sales from PCs to consumers fell 18% on an annual basis to $2 billion.

WATCH: Where to find value in AI stocks

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This startup makes thrifting furniture far easier, even for big retailers like Pottery Barn

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This startup makes thrifting furniture far easier, even for big retailers like Pottery Barn

AptDeco aims to keep furniture out of landfills

Furniture waste is a growing concern as consumers and companies seek to reduce carbon emissions. In the U.S. alone, we throw out roughly 12 million tons of furniture every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, leaving it to rot in landfills. Most of it is less than fifteen years old. Recycling furniture can be difficult, mostly because selling and moving it is such a pain.

Apparel companies like Poshmark, Dpop and Thredup are thriving in online thrifting, but furniture thrifting is a lot more complicated, simply due to the size of the items. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace list furniture, but it’s up to the consumers to figure out how to pick up and deliver the items. That can be costly and potentially dangerous, with strangers inviting strangers into their homes.

AptDeco is offering a new business model. The New York-based startup is an online marketplace for buying and selling used furniture that provides pick-up and delivery for items. It also works with major retailers, like West Elm and Pottery Barn, to sell floor models or resell items that have been returned.

“By extending the lifecycle of furniture, overall it’s just better for the environment, whether it be less wood being chopped out of forests to just the supply chain associated with producing that furniture,” said Reham Fagiri, founder and CEO of AptDeco.

For big furniture retailers, there is big waste in returns and the reverse logistics involved — from the costs to the transportation emissions. Instead, partner brands are now selling their returned items on AptDeco as soon as a customer requests a return, directly from the customer’s home. AptDeco uses its own resale data to price items to sell quickly, often within a week. They can then retrieve the item from the returner’s home and deliver it directly to a resale buyer, bypassing the need to take these returned items to a distribution center first. 

Kathleen O’Brien bought her dining room table, TV console and headboard from AptDeco.

“The world is kind of on fire, literally, and so anything that I can do to reduce my own footprint in the world is what I’m trying to do, like in all aspects of my life and furniture specifically,” said O’Brien.

While the furniture sells at as much as a 50% discount to new, the service comes at a price.

“We earn a percentage that ranges from 15% to as high as 60% depending on the product, the brand, the condition, and a lot of different variations that go into it,” said Fagiri.

The company operates everywhere in the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii. The company’s carrier network across so many markets makes its expansion potential very attractive to investors like Initialized Capital. 

“Contributing to the circular economy through their logistics business is a great example of the types of climate adaptation companies that we see as having longevity in the next phase of climate tech,” said Zoe Perret, a partner at Initialized Capital,

AptDeco is also backed by Comcast Ventures, Y Combinator, Hearst Lab, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Soma Capital. It has raised $14.5 million in total funding so far.

In the 10 years since its launch, Fagiri says the company has offset over 19 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the environment. That’s equivalent to roughly 6.5 million cars taken off the road.

CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.

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