A Bloomberg For Green Data

Blue Sky Analytics collects and processes environmental data that can be used by governments and companies to help deal with situations arising out of climate change.

- Manu Balachandran

In the early 1980s, soon after he was sacked as a partner at Salomon Brothers, Michael Bloomberg knew what he had to pivot to. Data was fast emerging as the new oil. It was all about providing accurate realtime data to help decision-makers, corporates and traders in their quest for profits. Over the past four decades, economies have boomed and corporate fortunes grown, and the gamble has paid off. Today, Bloomberg is the world’s 16th richest man with a fortune of over $60 billion.

His eponymous Bloomberg LP has become one of the world’s largest financial information and media companies. The Bloomberg terminal has over 325,000 users with subscriptions costing between $20,000 and $24,000 annually. It is a powerhouse of data and research on companies, financial instruments and exchanges from all over the world, which helps traders, analysts and executives make financial calculations, compare investments, analyse and make decisions.

Inspired by the business model, Abhilasha Purwar and her brother Kshitij—working out of a basement in Gurugram—are laying the foundation to build a Bloomberg for the environment. Founded in 2018, their company Blue Sky Analytics collects raw environmental data from public and private sources, uses its technology to decipher the data and makes it user friendly before offering it to potential buyers, including governments, insurance companies, health care providers and agroforestry companies.