Overstory

Overstory (formerly 20tree.ai) is a Netherlands-based vegetation intelligence platform that uses AI and real-time satellite imagery-based forest analytics to prevent forest fires and power outages. Overstory has offices in Amsterdam and Boston. The company monitors forests in Finland, Sweden, Indonesia, Peru, and the US. Most of the startup's customers are utility companies in Europe and North America. As of August 2023, Overstory monitored forests in 56 countries for 11 paying customers, mostly by purchasing and analyzing commercial satellite imagery. As of August 2023, the company had analyzed over 500 million hectares of land in more than 64 countries and 155 cities.

Overstory uses satellite imagery to capture high-resolution visuals of networks, identifying vegetation types, tree species, height, and density. Through machine learning, the platform extracts detailed insights from these images and climate data, supported by pre-trained algorithms incorporating arborist and forester measurements. Overstory's technology integrates diverse data sources, such as LiDAR, securely accessible through its platform or third-party tools. The platform processes terabytes of daily satellite data, presenting it via an online dashboard or API integration, offered on a flexible per-mile, per-month basis to minimize upfront costs.

Overstory offers utility companies a comprehensive suite of products, including a risk prioritization report featuring elements like tree detection, species identification, height, growth rate, proximity to power lines, vitality, insect infestations, and various risk assessments, wildfire mitigation planning, and Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) information. Overstory supports pruning verification and streamlines post-work audits by incorporating change detection, requirement verification, and contractor performance evaluation into its platform.

Key customers and partnerships

• In October 2022, the company partnered with IQGeo, a developer of geospatial productivity and collaboration software for the telecommunications and utility industries, to integrate Overstory's machine-learning vegetation technology into IQGeo's geospatial software platform.

• In 2022, Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative, a US transmission operator, implemented Overstory on two of its three vegetation management programs and saw a 13x ROI.

As of August 2023, the company claims that two of the top 10 US utilities and one of the largest utilities in Europe have joined Overstory’s portfolio. As of November 2022, Overstory's total transmission and distribution mileage for its customer base had grown to over 700,000 miles.