Investor News Hub
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11.19.24
A note from Tempest’s Investor Relations Team:
We send an email to all investors when a new update is added to this page. After our update last week, a few investors mentioned they missed our prior update in August. Our records show that both emails were sent to all subscribed investors, and StartEngine Investor Services confirmed they received and logged both updates. If you didn’t receive these emails, please check your spam folder. If you cannot find them, it’s possible you have unsubscribed from our emails. Contact us to resubscribe to investor updates at team@tempest.earth.
StartEngine investor services also experienced a system snafu a couple weeks ago and said that an email sent erroneously may have created some investor confusion. If you have any questions about a recent update or your investment, feel free to reach out to us directly.
11.11.24
Dear Investors,
With the season almost upon us, I am checking in ahead of our holiday push. Our great story remains the same, as we continue to drive the company forward on multiple fronts. We are well stocked with Tempest Systems, preparing for our peak consumer selling season, while continuing to improve our products. Importantly, we see increasingly positive results from our targeted business sectors. We believe the opportunities here are huge and that we can scale up quickly.
Our recent growth has been as expected , and we intend to continue investing to create more traction. The critical mass with our data network has clearly helped enhance our opportunities. To ensure our ability to pursue these promptly, we are aligning our existing resources and looking at taking on more capital. We may pursue an additional StartEngine campaign soon, so stay tuned.
Thanks to your support, we’re reaching new heights as we transform how people benefit from the best weather data. Here are a few highlights from activity at the company over the last few months:
Product Enhancements: Smarter, Stronger, and More User-Friendly
Our hardware and software teams have been hard at work refining the Tempest Home and TempestOne Weather Systems, making them smarter, more responsive, and more durable than ever. Here’s a look at some of the latest updates:
- Hardware Upgrades: The Tempest sensor device available today boasts over two dozen targeted improvements since its initial 2020 design, delivering enhanced performance and durability. Additionally, the latest Tempest Hub now includes an integrated external antenna for extended range and double the data storage capacity. But we’re most excited for what’s coming next—the “Tempest v2,” launching in 2025, which will build on all these advancements and introduce even more innovative features!
- Software Improvements: The Tempest Weather App is a vast improvement over the initial version we introduced in 2020. We are excited to announce that coming later this month, our app will include radar and other predictive insights tailored to various user needs—from outdoor adventurers to home automation enthusiasts.
- Smart Integrations: We’ve expanded compatibility with popular smart home ecosystems, such as IFTTT, enabling users to automate responses to changing weather, like adjusting thermostats or activating sprinkler systems based on Tempest data.
What’s Next: Exciting Developments on the Horizon
Looking ahead, we have a robust pipeline of new features, software releases, and hardware updates set for release in the coming months. We’re committed to keeping WeatherFlow-Tempest at the forefront of personal weather technology, pushing boundaries and exceeding user expectations.
As always, thank you for your continued confidence and support for our vision. Together, we’re creating a future where localized, precise weather data maximizes the savings on money and scarce resources, while optimizing outcomes. Please reach out to our Investor Relations Team if you have any questions or feedback: team@tempest.earth
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
08.05.24
Dear Investors,
With summer in full swing we are checking in with an update. We are honoring some milestones over the course of 2024, including reaching our 5th year as a company! It’s also been three years since we spun out from our former parent, becoming an independent entity. Most importantly, we have matured as a company, reaching a point where we have established great products and we are fine tuning what we do best.
Product Innovation and Network Growth: We continued to innovate and enhance our flagship product, the Tempest Weather System, which has garnered widespread acclaim for its accuracy, reliability, and user-friendly design. We were thrilled to see the Tempest Network surpass 80,000 stations sold and look forward to the same steady growth through 2024. Our long anticipated TempestOne Cellular System, as well as an updated TempestOne Standard System (including ethernet, USB comms and other commercially-focused features), are now shipping to select business clients and will be in stock for broad distribution in September.
Strategic Partnerships in New Verticals: Our commercial offering, TempestOne, has gained traction among utility companies, fire departments, broadcast networks, and more. New partners include Amazon Prime Air, multiple regional broadcast TV stations along with The Weather Channel, and air quality data leader PurpleAir. We are building on this momentum, refining our offerings and providing even greater utility and value to our business customers and partners, many of whom, in turn, promote our products and services to their own communities.
Key Team Building: June marked one year since Eddie Dingels joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Recently, we added the title of President to Eddie’s existing responsibilities as COO, cementing his position as an invaluable partner running the business. We also officially welcomed Corrine Butcher to the C-suite with her promotion to the role of Chief Information Officer. Corrine continues to lead software development as she has for the last 8 years, with this promotion acknowledging her role in planning our strategy and implementing leading-edge science and technology into our products. These promotions come on the heels of hiring a fantastic new Controller, Jessica Noyer, in April.
2023 Financials and Capitalization: We grew revenues more than 30% to $12.2 m and have reached the point where we are focusing our efforts on products and services that are most successful and strategically important. We continue to invest in creating a much larger company and secured a $3m long-term debt facility in March to pay off short-term debt and secure the funds we need to pursue an optimized strategy this year. Revenue growth over the first half of the year has been solid, albeit at a slower pace than 2023. We have slowed hiring and have been operating the company in the black in recent months as we determine the best options for investing in building a valuable company, including organic growth paths. We are exploring multiple financial and strategic partnerships that could dramatically accelerate growth.
Detailed 2023 financial statements can be viewed here. The 2023 C-AR report filed with the SEC can also be viewed on their website here.
We are grateful for your continued support and confidence in WeatherFlow-Tempest, Inc. We remain fully committed to delivering value to our customers, driving innovation in the weather technology industry, and maximizing returns for our investors.
Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at team@tempest.earth. Here’s to a prosperous and rewarding year ahead.
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
12.11.23
Dear Investors,
As 2023 nears a close I am delighted to share news on WeatherFlow-Tempest’s progress this year, as well as some thoughts on our plans for 2024.
This year, our company achieved several significant milestones that will help take us to the next level. Perhaps most importantly, we added Eddie Dingels to our executive staff as Chief Operating Officer. Eddie joined us from GroundTruth, where he served as CTO and COO, while being the general manager of that company’s WeatherBug division. He brings vast, valuable experience to our consumer apps business along with helpful general management expertise. He has become a valued right hand partner in running our business.
In addition to our growing team, we successfully expanded our market reach both domestically and internationally, launching sales and shipping within the UK with plans to also expand warehousing and in-country shipping to Canada in Q2 2024. Our strategic partnerships and distribution channels enabled us to tap into new markets and establish a strong presence in new regions.
We are on pace to close the year with annual revenue of approximately $12m, an annual pace of growth exceeding 30% over 2022. While the company is not yet profitable on an annual basis, we have reached the stage where we expect operating above break-even for 2024 to be a choice as we weigh options for investment in our future success.
We have many exciting partnerships and initiatives in development for 2024 and look forward to sharing with you! Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at team@weatherflow.com.
From all of us at WeatherFlow-Tempest, please have a safe and happy holiday season and a wonderful new year!
Cheers,
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
9.30.23
Dear Investors,
With summer behind us and the busy holiday season approaching, we wanted to update you on our continued promising mission and business trajectory.
Financial Performance:
Most importantly, sales and our bottom line continue progressing as we hoped and projected. We are maintaining a pace of year-over-year sales growth greater than 25% and have operated at a slight profit since the start of the 2nd quarter. We continue to manage our expenses prudently while strategically investing in areas that will drive sustained growth. We believe that investing in even greater growth is likely the best path for maximizing the company’s long-term value, and we are looking at various options to help us with that investment. It is exciting to see how our recent progress has opened up multiple possibilities.
Exploding User Base:
Related to our growth in revenue is an increase in the number of individuals and businesses that utilize our products. Our innovative weather-monitoring technology continues to resonate with individuals, households, and businesses alike, and the installed base of the Tempest network has swelled to over 65,000 active nodes. Likewise, our Lifestyle apps and business offerings continue to gain new users.
Product Enhancements:
We expect growth to accelerate in the future, partially due to our new product variations. Our engineering and design teams have been diligently working to enhance the Tempest experience, and we are about to roll out a new remote cellular-based hub that has received an overwhelmingly positive response from field testers and early customers. Our new products illustrate our commitment to delivering the best-in-class weather monitoring for any environment as part of powerful decision solutions.
Partnerships and Expansion:
We are constantly forming new strategic relationships and enhancing existing partnerships. Here are just a few updates illustrating our progress toward new heights.
- – We recently closed an agreement with Action News Jax in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of our Broadcast TV and Media Partner Program, and we expect many additional new program partners before the end of the year.
- – We executed an agreement with air quality monitoring company PurpleAir, with broad implications for future integrations and cross-promotion.
- – Our collaboration with Disney to launch the Tempest Weather Safety & Science Kit and expand the network of Tempests at Disney parks has allowed us to tap into their extensive network and powerful brand, allowing us to reach an even wider audience.
- – Our international expansion plan, as outlined this spring, has just launched. October will be our first month selling Tempest Systems to UK customers and shipping directly from our UK warehouse. This is a big milestone, and we plan to follow suit in several other countries in the coming months.
Thanks to you all for your belief in our vision and for co-investing in our success! We welcome any questions, insights, or feedback you may have. Please reach out anytime to team@weatherflow.com.
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
5.10.23
Dear Investors,
Our second StartEngine campaign wrapped last month, successfully generating $1.6M in investment, which will help move the company forward. With the campaign behind us, we will again be providing company updates by email while also posting that news here. (We recommend bookmarking this page for future reference.) While new company updates will no longer post to our StartEngine campaign page, you may still view our complete campaign page here. We also suggest you sign up for our newsletter if you are not yet subscribed.
We just completed our annual financial statements for 2022, which are now available here. Those results were also part of our Form C-AR, which was recently posted with the SEC. The submitted results were consistent with the preliminary results posted to our StartEngine campaign, as summarized in February (below). We are also off to a good start for the year, as we finished off the first four months with 40% year-over-year revenue growth. We are reducing our burn and moving closer to profitability as we had hoped.
For those who did not follow all our updates posted during our StartEngine Campaign, here are a few highlights:
- Tempest + Rachio Named Best New Smart Devices of CES 2023: WeatherFlow-Tempest CEO Buck Lyons attended CES in January with the team from Rachio to present their smart watering integration. The products work in sync with the Tempest Weather System used as the weather source for the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller, informing features like Rain Skip, Wind Skip, Freeze Skip, and more.
- WeatherBug-Tempest Network Experiencing an Explosive Start: As part of an integration with WeatherBug, the app’s 15 million unique monthly users are encouraged to buy a Tempest, generating well over 650 Tempest sales since it started rolling out in late December 2022.
- Other Tempest Partnerships: We announced new or expanded partnerships with Disney, Amazon, and Clemson University over the first quarter, and these are only the beginning. We believe that integrated partnerships with many different large organizations will help fuel Tempest as our products become invaluable tools for homes and businesses.
- Tempest Ambassador Program sets new sales record: Tempest is also partnering with individuals and small organizations. In February, our Ambassador Program achieved a substantial milestone, with meteorologist and influencer Ryan Hall generating nearly $100,000 in sales in his first three days as an official Tempest Ambassador!
- New Production Center Nears Completion: As an expansion of our successful collaboration with Embry-Riddle, we will soon share space with the university in the new Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center.
Please direct questions specific to your investment to team@weatherflow.com.
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
2.22.23
Dear Investors,
Since launching our second equity crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine in January, we have been pleased with the response! Our campaign recently surpassed the $1M mark ($3.5M combined raised on StartEngine), and we are humbled to see many of our original investors buy additional shares. Thank you for your continued support!
Under guidance from Start Engine, we have been providing some highlights from 2022 financial results on our Campaign ahead of our complete 2022 year-end financial statements, which will be prepared and available to all investors by April 30, 2023. Here is a summary of the information shared in StartEngine:
For the year ended Dec 31, 2022, we grew annual revenues by about 12% to $9.3m for the year despite serious supply problems in the first several months. After some decline in revenue over the first few months of the year, we have grown year-over-year monthly revenues by more than 25% since May.
Based on the foundation put in place, especially our recent partnerships, we believe we can accelerate growth above our recent strong growth rate. More than 25% of total revenue was from ARR, and that percentage represents an increase over last year. We expect continued strong growth in ARR during 2023.
Our cash burn from operations was approximately $200k per month, more than we initially projected. Expenses ramped more rapidly than revenue, partially because the cost of hiring and retaining personnel escalated considerably during the year. In addition to continuing strong revenue growth in 2023, we are optimistic that growth in expenses can be held in check. We expect our monthly burn rate to fall below $100k per month by the end of this first quarter.
Per SEC Regulations, we will provide Financial Statements as part of the SEC Form C-AR by April 30, 2023. We will also post that information in this investor section.
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
12.16.22
Dear Investors,
As we near the end of 2022, it’s clear that we will finish the year with continued strong revenue growth. Our year-over-year monthly sales gains have exceeded 25% since May, when we completed our Rachio partnership and, at the same time, reached important supply management goals. We think Tempest is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s biggest weather technology brands.
In addition to implementing the partnership with WeatherBug we announced in October, we have also recently expanded our partnership with Disney and expect that agreement to have a meaningful effect on the Company in 2023 and beyond. We also launched the Tempest Lightning Network™ (TLN), a partnership with TOA Systems LLC that creates a global detection system to deliver critical lightning data and alerts. Learn more about TLN here.
To continue to finance our growth, we recently executed an agreement with StartEngine for a follow-up campaign to our successful previous effort, which we expect to launch at the beginning of 2023. We hope all our current investors will consider investing more funds, and we are working with StartEngine to make such an investment compelling. We think 2023 will be a great year for the company as we take advantage of foundational elements put in place during the current year of 2022.
Note that as a requirement for a new StartEngine campaign, SetApart Financial just completed an audit of our 2021 financial results. There were no substantive changes to previous reports. Nonetheless, the audited statements have replaced the compiled results posted in April here.
Thank you again for your support. Please watch your email inbox for more updates on Start Engine and other news soon.
Buck Lyons, CEO
WeatherFlow-Tempest
10.27.22
Dear Investors,
On October 25, we executed a key strategic partnership and data licensing agreement with WeatherBug (GroundTruth Inc), operators of the second most popular weather app. We are hopeful this agreement will prove to be another important milestone in growing revenues and establishing our business. We expect to begin seeing revenue from this agreement in December and believe it will have a significant impact on 2023 revenue.
We are also excited to report that we continue to maintain supply of our flagship Tempest Systems in quantities needed to deliver on sales opportunities and our trend of year-over-year growth exceeding 25% since our partnership with Rachio was announced in June has continued. We are hoping to finish the year with this continued strong trend.
Buck Lyons
CEO
08.10.22
Dear Investors,
As announced via press release and on our StartEngine campaign page, we executed a key strategic partnership and cross-selling agreement with Rachio Inc. on May 30th. This agreement had an immediate impact on June sales, as we finished the first six months of the year with an overall gain in revenue vs the same period in 2021. We are optimistic we can effectively manage the global supply chain issues affecting all businesses and continue to grow revenues above 2021 levels by executing additional strategic partnerships and pushing other effective product marketing programs
Per the equity crowdfunding regulations enforced by the SEC and the recommendations of our advisors at StartEngine, we will be releasing detailed Financial Statements reflecting 2022 results in April 2023. These statements will be posted here and with the SEC via Form C-AR at that time. We will continue to provide some additional information on financial results between now and next April, including a high-level summary of annual results in February 2023, similar to last year’s report in February 2022 (see below). We will continue to provide guidance on key company developments and revenue growth here from time to time.
Buck Lyons
CEO
8.05.22
Dear StartEngine Investors,
As a quick reminder, you can direct specific investment questions to team@weatherflow.com.
We’ve received a few questions from StartEngine investors about where to find your investment documentation. Your StartEngine dashboard contains your subscription agreement (not a certificate), which documents your ownership. Consistent with StartEngine requirements, all WeatherFlow-Tempest shares are “uncertificated” (book-entry shares), and you can use the StartEngine platform to track and manage your ownership.
Michele Redmon
Marketing & Communications Director
05.15.22
Dear Investors,
Our Form C-AR was filed with SEC on April 29th as planned. Our 2021 Year End Financial Results have also been posted to this investor section of our website. 2020-2021 Financial Statements
Buck Lyons
CEO
02.14.22
Dear Investors,
We recently completed a successful third year as an independent business, and I am sharing a short note on our performance. This report discusses our financial picture at a general level, and detailed results in the form of our 2021 financial statements will be released on April 30, 2022.
Our financial statement process is slightly different this year due to equity crowdfunding regulations enforced by the SEC and the recommendations of our advisors at StartEngine. Our accounting firm, Patrick Scheufler Accountancy, will complete a review of our statements before April 30, and these statements will be posted with the SEC via Form C-AR after our StartEngine campaign ends on April 29.
Pending release of our financial statements, here is some general information on our results. We received over $8m in revenue in 2021. This compares with recognized revenue of $2.9m in 2019 and $6.5m in 2020 (includes $814,000 in 2019 cash receipts; see audited financials). Our cash receipts of $3.7m in 2019, $5.7m in 2020, and $8.1m in 2021, demonstrate year-over-year growth of 51% and 45%, illustrating our substantial and steady progress. We are especially pleased with this past year’s result, given the challenges with the global supply chain. We believe our strong team and our relationship with our Shenzhen-based contract manufacturer were the keys to this success.
Our cash burn from operations was approximately $110k a month on average in 2021, slightly higher than in 2020 and slightly more than projected. Nonetheless, our burn was lower as a percent of revenue. Especially with the many challenges 2021 presented, we are quite pleased with our results relative to our level of investment. Since July 2021, we have raised $930k in convertible notes and more than $1.65m from the sale of common stock via the StartEngine platform. This additional capital is allowing us to increase our rate of growth, and we expect to continue to invest in growth as long as we believe that investment is warranted and we have the investment capital to pursue.
With the StartEngine campaign still active, we are advised to be especially conservative with our communications on expected future results. And, with the current global environment, predictions are difficult to make. Nonetheless, opportunities abound, and we are extremely optimistic about an increase in our rate of growth in 2022. We will have some announcements soon to illustrate our process, strategy, and success.
Buck Lyons
CEO
This note from 2/14/22 was updated on 4/1/22 with the correct description of our financial statement preparation process and filing with the SEC. Our process now reflects the advisement to us from StartEngine on best practices.