Public Announcement
‍Contact:   Vivek Mital, VegaMX                  
                 Chief Executive Officer                                                                                                                                                 Vivek@VegaMX.net     347-702-1659
                  Elizabeth Pearce, Athena Intelligence                
                 Vice President, Business Development                 
                  Elizabeth@Project-Athena.com      415-595-4784                                    

January 30, 2024
‍For Immediate Release

NEW YORK and SACRAMENTO, CA — January 30, 2024 — Building upon the success of their collaborative efforts during the NASA SBIR grant process, VegaMX and Athena Intelligence are pleased to announce the formalization of their strategic alliance.  VegaMX, a leading data vendor, offers cutting-edge tools in weather data, satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and machine language, empowering organizations to tackle challenges such as wildfire risk. Athena Intelligence specializes in integrating data from various sources to create profiles that accurately depict wildfire risk, aiding utilities, insurance companies, municipalities, and financial investors in making informed decisions.

In late 2023, VegaMX led a consortium selected by NASA as one of the final candidates in the highly competitive SBIR Ignite! grant process. The consortium, spearheaded by VegaMX's utilization of satellite imagery and weather data, aimed to develop new tools to address wildfire risk. Wildfires cause an estimated $800 billion annually in damages and expenses in the United States.

Vivek Mital, founder and CEO of the VegaMX team, expressed enthusiasm, stating, "Athena's participation in the consortium was important.  We decided to formalize the relationship and move forward with additional collaborative projects which will harness cutting-edge technology for a crucial cause."

Athena Intelligence's flagship prefire tool, Voice of the Acre®, is widely utilized by various electric utilities across the western US. The enhanced alliance with VegaMX will fortify pre-fire research, enabling companies to identify high-risk areas based on factors such as fuel accumulation, weather patterns, and soil moisture.

Athena Intelligence combines extensive data from wildfire and environmental agencies, synthesizing disaggregated and unstructured information into a usable and computable format. This approach facilitates pre-wildfire assessments, providing with valuable insights for resource managers in planning and prioritizing mitigation efforts.

David Sypnieski, CEO of Athena Intelligence, expressed satisfaction with the collaboration, stating, "VegaMX's academic prowess and extensive network make them an ideal partner. We are thrilled that VegaMX recognizes the significance of Athena Intelligence's prefire risk products and their potential contribution to commercialization."

VegaMX and Athena Intelligence will collaborate on grants related to wildfires from various government agencies, including NASA, NOAA, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the USDA’s Forestry Department. Each of these organizations has programs aimed at reducing the impact of wildfires on community resiliency, the stability of the national grid, and the impact of large-scale forest fires on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

About VegaMX Inc.

VegaMX is a pioneering organization using satellite imagery, weather data, artificial intelligence, and machine language tools to address challenges such as wildfire risk. VegaMX plays a crucial role in advancing research and solutions for wildfire and climate change for firms in agriculture, financial services and the utility industry.  The company has collaborated on projects with Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES), MIT’s Julia Labs, NY Institute of Finance, Gateway Partners, Arbol and professors associated with Columbia and Washington University. Learn more at https://www.VegaMX.net‍

About Athena Intelligence

Athena Intelligence, headquartered in Sacramento, is a data vendor with a proprietary, geospatial, conditional profiling tool that integrates vast amounts of disaggregated wildfire and environmental data. This tool generates spatial intelligence, providing a digital fingerprint of wildfire risk. The company's innovative solutions empower industries such as power, insurance, and financial services to make informed decisions in risk assessment, portfolio optimization, and loss cost probabilities. Learn more at https://AthenaIntel.io.
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