Celest Science

Celest Science, founded in March 2023 by Dr. Léo Lemordant and Professor Pierre Gentine, is a climate risk intelligence firm operating from Paris, France. The founders' collaboration began during Lemordant's PhD in hydrology at Columbia University, which Gentine supervised. Gentine is a recognized climate scientist at Columbia, with contributions to the field of machine learning in climate science acknowledged by the Nobel Prize Committee. Lemordant brings entrepreneurial experience, having previously founded Enerfip, a successful renewable energy crowdfunding platform.

The company provides a climate prediction platform that utilizes a combination of proprietary AI models, machine learning, and climate science to deliver forecasts on climate and weather-related risks. Unlike traditional methods that rely heavily on historical data, Celest Science's technology analyzes the complex interactions between atmospheric, oceanic, and land systems to identify the physical drivers of climate events. This approach allows the platform to offer predictive insights ranging from two weeks to six months, bridging the gap between short-term weather forecasting and long-term climate simulations. The service is designed to help clients understand and anticipate their exposure to events such as droughts, heat waves, floods, and wildfires.

Celest Science primarily serves industries that are highly sensitive to climate volatility, including insurance, reinsurance, energy, agribusiness, and financial institutions. Its business model is centered on providing these sectors with decision-support data and risk assessments to enhance operational resilience, manage financial risk, and comply with evolving regulatory requirements, such as the EU's mandates on climate risk disclosure. The company delivers its forecasts and analytics through direct API access and a documentation platform, allowing for integration into client workflows. Following a period of R&D and a collaboration with Zurich, the company secured €2 million in a seed funding round in April 2025, co-led by Astorya.vc and Plug and Play, to accelerate its technology development and market expansion.

Keywords: climate risk intelligence, AI climate modeling, physical risk assessment, extreme weather forecasting, sub-seasonal forecasting, climate adaptation, hydrology, catastrophe modeling, climate science, machine learning for climate, water-related risks, insurance technology, energy sector risk, agribusiness analytics, financial risk management, regulatory compliance, climate data analysis, predictive analytics, atmospheric science, ocean-land interaction, generative AI models