{"id":1109,"date":"2025-04-08T14:15:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T14:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/08\/meet-the-founder-who-raised-6-3m-to-literally-make-it-rain\/"},"modified":"2025-04-08T14:15:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T14:15:56","slug":"meet-the-founder-who-raised-6-3m-to-literally-make-it-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/08\/meet-the-founder-who-raised-6-3m-to-literally-make-it-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Founder Who Raised $6.3M to Literally Make It Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

While billionaires hoard water rights and investors play Monopoly with farmland, one 20-something founder is trying something completely different: creating water from thin air.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Meet Augustus Doricko, the CEO of Rainmaker<\/a> \u2014 a Southern California startup using drone-based cloud seeding to artificially increase rainfall over drought-stricken farmland. If it sounds like science fiction, that\u2019s because it kind of is. But it\u2019s also very real, very funded, and potentially very important.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Source: The Hustle YouTube<\/span><\/p>\n

What Even Is Cloud Seeding?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

“Cloud seeding is just changing the amount of water that falls onto the ground,” Doricko said.<\/p>\n

The science behind it is surprisingly straightforward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doricko explained the process in simpler terms: They find clouds with water droplets that are too small to fall as rain, fly drones into them, and spray a mineral that helps those tiny droplets freeze together and become heavy enough to fall as rain or snow.<\/p>\n

It’s basically tricking clouds into raining when they naturally wouldn’t.<\/p>\n

From Zero to Seed Round<\/h2>\n

Augustus Doricko didn\u2019t graduate college. He was one class away from a degree at UC Berkeley when he dropped out to run a water compliance startup in Texas.<\/p>\n

That job led him to California \u2014 and to the realization that regulation alone wouldn\u2019t solve the water crisis. So he started looking into ways to produce more water.<\/p>\n

The result? A new company, a $6.3M seed round (with backers like Garry Tan), and a scrappy team working out of a warehouse in El Segundo, a former aerospace hub turned frontier tech hotspot\u200b.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His pitch to investors? Dead simple.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty straightforward to say, ‘Hey, people need water. We can make it.’ That one was easy,” Doricko said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, Rainmaker even picked up its entire team and moved to rural Oregon to get around drone regulations. That\u2019s startup energy.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The Stakes Are Bigger Than California<\/h2>\n

According to Doricko, failing to solve the West\u2019s water crisis could lead to:<\/p>\n

Famine, <\/span>as California\u2019s Central Valley \u2014 which produces 25% of the US food supply \u2014 runs dry<\/p>\n

Depopulation,<\/span> in cities like Phoenix, Salt Lake, and Las Vegas<\/p>\n

Permanent aquifer damage,<\/span> from overpumping groundwater<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Rainmaker doesn\u2019t succeed,\u201d he says, \u201cwe\u2019ll look back on this time as the beginning of a long, dry decline\u201d<\/p>\n

But the impact goes beyond just water availability.<\/p>\n

“People don’t think about the loaded costs. Like, if a banana or an orange costs a dollar versus $10, the downstream effects on everybody’s purchasing power is affected meaningfully as well,\u201d Doricko said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is It Safe to Mess With the Weather?<\/h2>\n

Yes, people ask about ethics. And Doricko\u2019s ready with answers.<\/p>\n

Pollution concerns?<\/strong> The seeding material is silver iodide, which is 10x less toxic than aspirin. Used in such tiny amounts it\u2019s nearly undetectable.<\/p>\n

Accidental floods or avalanches?<\/strong> Rainmaker\u2019s programs include strict stop criteria based on soil saturation and avalanche risk.<\/p>\n

Will seeding in one place steal rain from somewhere else?<\/strong> Studies say no. There\u2019s no evidence of \u201cdownwind drought.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, he admits: the idea of controlling the weather raises big questions. But he argues the alternative \u2014 worsening drought and disaster \u2014 is even riskier.<\/p>\n\n

Source: The Hustle YouTube<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next for Rainmaker?<\/h2>\n

The team is testing their new radar and drone fleet in Tierra del Fuego<\/em>, the southernmost tip of Argentina, to catch winter clouds year-round.<\/p>\n

They’re also\u00a0 building toward the largest weather modification program in the world (outside of China).\u00a0<\/p>\n

If all goes well, Rainmaker could become the largest water utility in the American West within three years.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Doricko wants to go even further: terraform deserts, green the Great Plains, and fully automate atmospheric water generation.<\/p>\n\n

Source: The Hustle YouTube<\/span><\/p>\n

A Different Solution to Water Scarcity<\/h2>\n

While billionaires hoard water rights like real estate, and firms flip groundwater access for millions, Rainmaker is asking a radically simple question:<\/p>\n

What if we just made more water?<\/p>\n

Whether drones can solve the West\u2019s water crisis remains to be seen, but one thing\u2019s clear: In a world where everyone\u2019s fighting over the pie, Rainmaker is baking a new one.<\/p>\n

Interested in more stories like this? Subscribe to The Hustle<\/a> on YouTube, and watch the video about the billionaires who are causing the problem that Rainmaker is helping solve in the first place. <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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