SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 12, 2025--
Today, Causal Labs, the AI company pioneering physics-based models to address civilization-scale challenges, is announcing it has raised $6 million in seed funding, led by Kindred Ventures with participation from Refactor, BoxGroup, Factorial, Otherwise, Karman Ventures, and a select group of angel investors. Causal Labs plans to use the funds to expand its team, further develop its initial model, including safety and transparency mechanisms, and initiate robust pilot programs across critical industries.
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Causal Labs is rethinking how we understand and respond to weather. Unlike existing approaches, which rely on expensive supercomputers that are slow to produce timely forecasts, Causal Labs uses AI physics models to simulate how the atmosphere will behave to create more accurate forecast predictions in minutes. More than just forecasting, the model redefines how weather-related decisions are made—whether through direct interventions in atmospheric conditions or operational responses to climate risks. The model will provide the tools needed to anticipate and respond to the increasing threats posed by climate change, including extreme weather events and natural disasters.
Beyond weather, Causal Labs is building towards a general, large-scale physics foundation model. At its core, the model understands cause-and-effect relationships in physical domains to determine the optimal course of action. By encoding physics-driven decision-making at scale, the model represents a step toward predicting and shaping real-world dynamics with unparalleled accuracy. Causal Labs plans to generalize this approach beyond atmospheric physics, applying it to other domains such as aviation, agriculture, energy, space, climate change, and government that rely on physics simulations, ultimately creating a versatile AI system for tackling complex, physics-based challenges across industries.
“Our model will be informed by the laws of physics, opening a world of possibilities for future use cases in the physical world,” said Dar Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Causal Labs. “We see a unique opportunity to shift the current paradigm of AI research from LLMs to physics-based models, beginning with weather—a critical and universal challenge that touches every individual, business, and community.”
“Causal Labs’ AI-driven physics model research represents a major leap forward in decision-making technology in the real world,” said Steve Jang of Kindred Ventures. “We’re thrilled to support their mission to transform how industries operate and thrive with greater intelligence and autonomy in the face of complex, physics-based challenges across many industries and regions around the planet.”
Causal Labs was founded by Kelsie Zhao and Dar Mehta, experts in building safety-critical, multi-modal AI models. Kelsie is a self-driving car veteran who built foundational components of Cruise’s core self-driving stack, while Dar has worked across Google Research, Meta, Cruise, and a YC-backed robotics startup. As Stanford and Waterloo graduates with extensive experience leading technical teams, they bring a proven track record of applying AI to solve complex, physics-driven challenges.
About Causal Labs
Causal Labs builds AI-powered physics models to transform complex data into insights that inform decisions. The company is pioneering a new paradigm in AI by integrating physics-based models to solve civilization-scale challenges. By combining cutting-edge artificial intelligence with a deep understanding of physical systems, Causal Labs is creating models that transform how industries adapt to dynamic and complex conditions. Starting with hyper-local, real-time weather forecasting, Causal Labs is redefining decision-making in sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy, and aviation—delivering optimal operations actions that empower businesses and communities to thrive in an uncertain world. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Causal Labs is backed by Kindred Ventures and other visionary investors. Learn more at getcausal.ai.
Causal Labs co-founders Dar Mehta and Kelsie Zhao. (Photo: Business Wire)
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
