Collaboration between Japanese insurance giant Sompo and Israeli startup Momentick will work to cut greenhouse gas emissions from Japanese energy production sources, rigs and gas pipelines. Momentick has developed a solution for identifying and measuring greenhouse gas emissions through satellite images.
The Japanese government is interested in regulating its policy in this field, among other things, for Japanese owned rigs and gas pipelines located beyond the borders of Japanese waters. Sompo, which is one of Japan’s three biggest insurance companies, and which endeavors to collaborate with Israeli technology companies, will make use of Momentick’s technology, which could also become part of Sompo’s risk management services.
In 2018, Sompo set up its innovation center in Tel Aviv (it has two others in Tokyo and Silicon Valley), which is led by Yinnon Dolev. The center leads commercial collaborations with Israeli startup companies and is initiating the current collaboration with Momentick, in cooperation with Sompo’s business unit.
Sompo has begun working with Momentick, and the two companies are currently performing a demonstration of the Israeli company’s technology, stressing Momentick’s ability to detect emissions of methane, one of the main greenhouse gases, through satellite images. Momentick has proven its ability to provide a precise analysis after a comparison was made between it and an analysis conducted by an active sensor installed on an aircraft of an American organization called Carbon Mapper, which scanned specific areas in the center of the US. It became clear that the Israeli company had reached the same results as Carbon Mapper.
In this demonstration, Momentick analyzed the amount and locations of methane in the atmosphere with software that uses hyperspectral analysis and algorithms based on satellite images. The results and insights will be provided to Sompo and its subsidiary Sompo Risk Management, who will jointly investigate the potential for technical verification, service provision and the development of insurance products. For the purpose of technical verification, data obtained from the Greenhouse Gases Observer (GOSAT) satellite, which is the first satellite in the world dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide and methane concentrations from space, will also be used. The data analysis will be carried out in cooperation with the Climate Change Observation Research Strategy Office of the Ministry of the Environment and the Satellite Observation Center of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan. Sompo may also offer Momentick’s services as part of the group’s risk management services (Sompo Risk Management).
Momentick was founded in 2020 by Daniel Kashmir (CEO), Lev Oren (COO), and Ophir Almog (Chief Scientist). The company has developed a solution that provides precise and autonomous capabilities to identify and measure methane emissions and the other greenhouse gases on a global scale. The company uses satellite images that it buys, and based on them has the expertise to accurately identify the location and amount of greenhouse gas emissions, without having to possess its own satellites. At present, the company has the ability to detect methane gas and within a year it expects to be able to detect carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.
The company offers three main services: firstly, accurate monitoring for specific facilities/assets (such as factories or rigs); secondly, monitoring large areas (such as large regions or long pipelines); and thirdly, monitoring companies’ emissions in order to provide them with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) data. The company’s target is to provide a smart platform for analyzing emissions mainly for the energy industry, waste management companies, financial companies and insurance companies.
Momentick has to date raised $7 million in seed financing rounds. Investors in the company include the Japanese venture capital fund Chartered Group Japan and the venture capital fund of Tel Aviv University, TAU Ventures.
Sompo Digital Lab Israel CEO Yinnon Dolev said, “We are very happy to lead this partnership between Sompo in Japan and Momentick in Israel. We see this partnership as creating value in areas that affect the environment, in a way that complements our insurance policies. Also, Japan’s joining the global fight against greenhouse gas emissions creates an opportunity for large investments in technologies that support the struggle to improve the quality of the environment and the war against global warming. I am confident that the Japanese market will find that there are quite a few Israeli technology companies that will be able to assist it in this process.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 2, 2024.
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