About risQ

Our Mission

Our mission is to catalyze and inform systems-level adaptation to climate change. We model the complex financial risks posed by climate change, translating them to actionable insights for municipal debt stakeholders. risQ is a spinout of Northeastern University’s Sustainability and Data Sciences (SDS) Lab and is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Climate Risk as a Tool for
Municipal Bond Stakeholders

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Our Journey

2014 - The Idea

After finishing his PhD at Northeastern University, CEO Dr. Kodra was drawn to the huge gap between the corpus of climate change research and actual practice. He realized that the private sector was relatively unengaged in the climate change discussion — but that it might be the right vehicle for real change

Dr. Kodra realized that, perhaps counterintuitively, the insurance sector generally does not price climate change risks into underwriting. He and Dr. Auroop Ganguly, climate scientist and professor at Northeastern University, began exploring the idea of spinning out a company that would start by addressing this gap

2015 - Team Grows

Colin Sullivan, also a Northeastern alumnus with expertise in tech transfer and business development, joins Dr. Ganguly and Dr. Kodra decide to try to co-found risQ as a spinout of Northeastern’s Sustainability and Data Sciences Lab

2016 - Grant Awarded, Company Started

risQ is awarded its first funding — a $225,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) grant — and the company is officially launched.

2017 - Catastrophe Modeling

risQ builds an understanding of the catastrophe (“cat”) modeling and insurance markets, culminating in a technical partnership with JBA Risk Management (a renowned leader in flood modeling), wide recognition in the cat insurance sector, and an invited climate change talk at a major cat modeling conference.

2018 - Phase Two Grant Awarded

risQ is awarded a second round of NSF SBIR grant funding for $750,000. The team grows, adding more expertise in climate science, modeling, product development, and strategy.

2019 - Market Traction

Municipal Market Analytics (MMA), an independent thought leader in the municipal debt market, partners with risQ to help them define and introduce a transformative climate risk product to all stakeholders of U.S. public debt. The partnership led to a supplemental NSF grant awarded to risQ to help accelerate product development.

2020 - Product Launch

risQ and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a market leader in data services to the financial services sector, announced a partnership in January 2020 that will enable the municipal bond ecosystem to incorporate best-in-class climate risk into project and investment decisions at a security level.