PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Today, BeeHero, the Precision Pollination company, is announcing its $19M Series-A financing round with $15M in capital from ADM Capital, Rabo Food and Agri Innovation Fund, iAngels, Firstime, J-Ventures, UpWest, Entrée Capital, Good Company, STB Holdings, the Arison Group, Gaingels, as well as $4M in grants from the European Commission, the BIRD Foundation, and the Israel Innovation Authority. New plans include ramping up the company’s end-to-end services for major food growing operations on an accelerated path to becoming the largest pollination provider in the US and helping solve the global food crisis.

“BeeHero is a perfect example of a technology-enabled solution to real world problems, challenging the market dynamics to futureproof our global food supply chains,” Alastair Cooper, Head of Venture investments at ADM Capital Europe LLP, investment advisor to the Cibus Funds. “Their product enhances growth and profit for both growers and beekeepers, whilst simultaneously supporting pollinators that are critical to the vast majority of crop species; a real win for the world.”

Powered by advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and low-cost IoT sensors, BeeHero’s platform facilitates optimal crop pollination by offering white-glove Precision-Pollination-as-a-Service that achieves better crop yields and profits while addressing the health and welfare of pollinators.

“BeeHero continues to drive transformation in the pollination industry,” said Richard O’Gorman, MD of the Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund. “We continue to see a very strong fit between BeeHero and Rabobank’s Banking for Food mission; many of BeeHero’s customers are close relationships of Rabobank and we are thrilled to continue to support the company as it scales fast in its mission to enhance pollinator health, crop yield and in turn farmers’ margins.”

FEEDING A GROWING POPULATION
The demands of feeding a growing global population are compounding. According to the UN, increasing bee mortality threatens the production of 75% of the world’s food crops, including most fruit, vegetable, seed, nut, and oil crops, vital for nutritional security. As well as lowering crop yields, the loss of pollinators could also raise food prices for consumers and reduce agricultural profits. Our population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, which translates to a 70% required growth in the global food supply. Already nearing the limits of available arable land, with a modest 4% increase in available acreage over the next 30 years, the subsequent 70% food production growth needs to come from yield.

“Solving the global food crisis depends on conjoining efforts of growers and beekeepers to scale their operations, incrementally innovating current and generational knowledge and processes,” said Omer Davidi, CEO of BeeHero. “We’ve dedicated years to building a frictionless technology platform for growers and beekeepers, by growers and beekeepers, that allows them to optimize their own methods and increase their yields to maximize profits while leveraging their long-held domain expertise.”

FROM SEED TO TABLE
Already working with five of the ten largest global almond producers to assure sustainable and efficient end-to-end pollination cycles, BeeHero has established long-term partnerships with leading seed producers, commercial beekeepers, and multinational food and agri-business companies by creating the world’s largest database of bee and pollination data. With millions of dollars in revenues since launch, BeeHero is rapidly becoming the largest pollination provider in the US by augmenting the precision agriculture movement. In 2021, BeeHero became the 4th largest pollination provider in the US by implementing the world’s largest network of simultaneously monitored hives over tens of thousands of acres, which enabled the hulling of an average value of $140M during California’s annual almond harvest, the state’s largest ag export responsible for 80% of the world’s almond supply.

“We started implementing BeeHero’s technology two years ago to understand what was happening in our fields during pollination and mitigate any problem areas where our bees weren’t performing,” said Zac Ellis of Olam International. “Innovation to precision agriculture is exactly how we’re building the resilience our bees and our customers need.”

RECULTURING A RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAIN
Early detection of threats and danger from sensor-equipped hives has never been more instrumental in protecting their pollinators. On average, BeeHero-managed hives have seen an astonishing 25-30% average decrease in mortality rates since 2020, offering new hope for both the bees and the beekeepers and farmers who rely on them to grow our food. To develop increased mitigation techniques, BeeHero has been working with academic partners, including the University of California, Davis.

“Using novel, in-hive colony sensor technology with real-time indicators could be one of the integral components in beekeepers’ pursuit of maintaining healthy and productive honey bee colonies,” said Dr. Elina L. Niño, Associate Extension Specialist in Apiculture at the Department of Entomology and Nematology at University of California, Davis. “We are always aiming to partner with companies working on promising new technologies for potential betterment of the beekeeping industry. In one such collaboration with BeeHero, our goal is to use the in-hive sensors to track colony parameters while assessing the efficacy of different treatments and application methods to improve the health and welfare of our global pollinators.”

BeeHero is also working with the renowned World Bee Project to generate evidence-based research data into the health of bees and their relationship with local environments. Concurrently, Dr. Huw Evans, Head of BeeHero’s Innovation team, is researching methods to remotely detect and alert about an Asian Giant Hornet (AGH) attack on a beehive.

“Working with Japan’s Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute and the USDA, our goal is to create a ‘sentinel’ network of monitored hives in areas under threat from AGH incursion.” said Dr. Evans, “This would enable an effective early warning system for this new invasive pest.”

Free access to explore BeeHero’s Precision Pollination Platform at available at https://hello.beehero.io

Media Contact

Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, BeeHero Precision Pollination, +1 (415) 860-7900, mhk@beehero.io

SOURCE BeeHero Precision Pollination