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MeteoGroup
Company typePrivate
IndustryMeteorology
Founded1986
FounderHarry Otten
DefunctNovember 2019 (2019-11)
FateIntegrated into DTN
Headquarters
Utrecht
,
The Netherlands
Number of locations
Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States[1][2]
Key people
Marc Chesover (President and Member of the Board)[3]

David Porter (COO)[4]

Ben Kelly (General Counsel and Member of the Board)[4]
ProductsSPOS, NowCastingPro, WeatherAPI, RoadMaster, RunwayMaster, WeatherSuite, FleetGuard, RouteGuard, MetOceanPro, DynamicLineRating
ServicesWeather Technology & Data
Number of employees
400+
ParentTBG AG
Websitewww.meteogroup.com

MeteoGroup was a private weather forecasting organisation based in Europe, with offices in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. MeteoGroup provided weather information to markets that included transport, marine, agriculture, energy and the media.[5] MeteoGroup had a portfolio of weather apps: WeatherPro, MeteoEarth and Magical Weather.[6] In 2013, MeteoGroup was acquired by General Atlantic.[7][8] In 2018, MeteoGroup was acquired by TBG AG.[9]

In November 2019, MeteoGroup was integrated into US weather services company DTN (also owned by TBG).[10]

History

In 1986, Meteo Consult B.V, was set up in the Netherlands by Harry Otten, a Dutch TV weather presenter. It was one of the first European private-sector weather businesses.

At that time, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute dominated all the Dutch markets and access by private companies to essential meteorological data and models was severely restricted. Meteo Consult lobbied the Government of the Netherlands for fair and equal data access, and for the opening of weather markets to the private sector. As a result, Meteo Consult grew in both the media and B2B markets.

Initial European expansion

In the early 1990s Meteo Consult started expanding outside of the Netherlands and also into marine services. The company began working with a major international energy and petrochemical company to develop an on-board routing system for the shipping market. SPOS, its proprietary weather routing system, is now a market leader and is installed on over 2,000 vessels worldwide.

In 1993 Meteo Consult set up its first business outside the Netherlands when a joint venture for the German market was established in Berlin. In 1998 the joint venture came to an end and its wholly owned German subsidiary MC-Wetter was established.

Joint venture with PA

Further European expansion quickly followed. In 1996 Meteo Consult became a majority shareholder in Meteo Services in Belgium (now MeteoGroup Belgium) and in 1997 a joint venture was established with the Press Association in the UK - PA WeatherCentre.

In 1998 Meteo Consult acquired a majority shareholding in MeteoGraphics, a graphics business specialising in visualising weather. Also based in Berlin, MeteoGraphics works closely with the German subsidiary of MeteoGroup.

In May 2005, a majority shareholding in Meteo Consult B.V was acquired by the PA Group, an international group of news, containing information and communications businesses which include the Press Association, the national news agency of the UK and Ireland.

The Press Association and Meteo Consult had worked together since 1997 in a successful joint venture in the UK, PA WeatherCentre Ltd, now MeteoGroup UK, combining the meteorological skills of Meteo Consult with the packaging and delivery skills of the Press Association. This acquisition broadened PA Group's diversified information services for international markets, helping the company to enter new markets.

Rebranding as MeteoGroup

In September 2006, the business was re-branded as MeteoGroup, which brought together all its businesses under a single brand. Meteo Consult has retained its original brand name alongside the strapline 'A MeteoGroup Company'.

MeteoGroup España was launched in 2006 with an office in Madrid and, in 2007, MeteoGroup opened new weather operations in Poland (MeteoGroup Polska) and Sweden (MeteoGroup Scandinavia). A new business was launched in France in April 2009 (MeteoGroup France), bringing the number of European MeteoGroup operations to eight.

Launch of US office

In 2010 MeteoGroup expanded into the United States and launched MeteoGroup USA.

In May 2011, MeteoGroup acquired Nowcasting International Limited, an Ireland-based company specialising in technology for offshore weather forecasting. The company now forms part of MeteoGroup Offshore, a dedicated division supplying meteorological and oceanographic products and services to the offshore industry.

At the end of 2011 MeteoGroup Italia was set up in Italy.

In the summer of 2017 MeteoGroup withdrew from the US transportation business, ending all relationships with their US sales force.

Expansion into Southeast Asia

In July 2012, MeteoGroup Singapore was launched, initially focusing on providing weather products and services to the Southeast Asian shipping and offshore markets.[11]

Major European acquisition

In September 2013, MeteoGroup acquired mminternational (Europe) AG, a major Swiss-German weather company. According to its press release, this expanded MeteoGroup's global operations to 14 countries, making it one of the largest weather companies in the world with almost 400 employees and combined annual turnover of more than €50 million.[12]

BBC Weather

On 6 February 2018 BBC Weather changed supplier from the government Met Office to MeteoGroup, after being required to put its weather services out to tender.[13][14] Some have claimed there has been a reduction in accuracy of BBC forecasts as a result.[15][16][17]

Acquisition by TBG AG

In 2018 MeteoGroup was acquired by TBG AG, a private venture capital firm based in Zurich, Switzerland.[18][9]

Integration into DTN

In November 2019, MeteoGroup was integrated into US weather services company DTN (also owned by TBG AG) and was rebranded as DTN, establishing a DTN European headquarters in Utrecht, Netherlands.[19][10]

References

  1. ^ "to acquire The Weather Network Commercial Services Division from Pelmorex Media Inc". MeteoGroup.com. 30 September 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Offices and Agencies". MeteoGroup.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Marc Chesover takes over as CEO of". MeteoGroup.com. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Leadership team of". MeteoGroup.com. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Offers and Promotions - Competitions and Discounts". Telegraph. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  6. ^ Nick Spence (15 July 2009). "Weather Pro for iPhone review - Review - Macworld UK". Macworld.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  7. ^ "MeteoGroup Partners with Global Growth Investor, General Atlantic". General Atlantic website. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Portfolio of Growth Equity Investments". General Atlantic. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Acquisition MeteoGroup completed". MeteoGroup. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  10. ^ a b "MeteoGroup and DTN Join to Build Largest Private Weather Company". 25 November 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Europe's Largest Private Weather Company Opens Office in Singapore". PR Newswire. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  12. ^ MeteoGroup (press release) (23 September 2013). "MeteoGroup Acquires Leading European Weather Business". Cision - PR Newswire. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  13. ^ Howell, Liz (6 February 2018). "BBC Weather has a new look". BBC. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  14. ^ Staufenberg, Jess (17 August 2016). "BBC weather service replaces Met Office with private company MeteoGroup after 94-year spell". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  15. ^ Sawer, Patrick; Horton, Helena (4 February 2018). "Weather watchers complain new BBC weather website suggests it's raining every day". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  16. ^ Perring, Rebecca (4 February 2018). "BBC backlash over new weather website as critics complain it suggests it's ALWAYS raining". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  17. ^ Davies, Caroline (10 February 2018). "Met Office still 'best forecaster in galaxy' despite BBC rejection". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  18. ^ "Forecaster MeteoGroup to come under TBG umbrella". Sky News. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  19. ^ Norman, Helen (28 November 2019). "MeteoGroup and DTN join forces to become largest private weather company". meteorologicaltechnologyinternational.com. Retrieved 11 December 2023.

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