Alex Kubicek

Inspired by a desire to reinvent disaster safety sparked by his relief work with Hurricane Katrina, Alex Kubicek pursued and obtained a Bachelor of Science (2010) in Physics from the University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, a Bachelor of Science (2010) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and Master of Science (2013) in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. During Alex’s pursuit of his Master’s degree, he received the Wahl Award for redesigning the curriculum for Weather and Climate 101 and the Lettau Award for Outstanding M.S. Thesis for his work on cloud microphysics and hail formation.

Alex went on from his formal education to found Understory to fill in weather-related observational gaps occurring at ground level. Understory designs, manufactures, deploys, and operates networks of patented ground-based weather stations that deliver real-time, solid-state measurements that include rain, wind, and hailstone impacts (hail momentum, impact angle, and size distribution). These observational data are processed by the Understory team and leveraged to improve life and property safety worldwide. Understory has deployed over 400 weather stations and owns and operates weather station networks located in Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Denver, and Houston. Understory is currently deploying weather station networks in seventy-five additional cities that will be operational by the beginning of 2020.

Through the process of founding and building Understory, Alex has guided his team through an accelerator program, a hardware seed stage, an institutional seed financing of $2.1M lead by True Ventures, and a Series A financing of $7.5M lead by 4490 Ventures and strategic participation by Monsanto.