BeeHero

BeeHero is an Israeli startup that provides farmers with precise pollination solutions using beehives and IoT. The company’s business model involves partnering with beekeepers and farmers to provide “pollination as a service”. BeeHero is known as the fourth largest pollination provider in the US. In addition, the company entered international markets such as Australia, Europe, South Africa, and South America.

The company’s “SmartHive” technology embeds beehives (which are used for crop pollination) with IoT and sensors. This makes it possible to track the movements and health of bees in real-time, receive alerts on things like mite infestations before they worsen, and ensure healthier hives. SmartHive also helps optimize the placement of beehives in a crop farm and improve the efficiency of the pollination process, increasing crop yields. The company is also building the largest database of bee-adjacent data to ascertain how hives and pollination respond to different weather patterns, crops and planting styles, pesticides, invasive species, etc.

The company claims that using its solution will help improve crop yield on average by 30%. As of October 2021, BeeHero works with top almond growers in California and has installed more than 50,000 SmartHives, and pollinated 54 billion flowers across more than 27,000 acres of cropland. The company plans to manage 100,000 hives by the end of 2021. The company also reported that the deployment of its IoT sensors saved around 250 million bees in 2022, with beekeepers using their technology reporting 33% fewer colony losses compared to the US national average.

In November 2022 , the company raised USD 42 million in Series B funding led by Convent Capital, with participation from new investors General Motors, Cibus Capital, and Rabobank, as well as existing investors Firstime and J-Ventures. The funds were to be used to accelerate the growth and adoption of the company's Precision Pollination platform, as well as to increase spending on R&D for the company's "Sustainable Agriculture Ecosystem".

In May 2023, the company introduced the Healthy Hive Score , an evaluation model that utilizes data from monitored colonies and academic research to assess colony health based on colony growth, brood health, and queen presence, normalized against weather conditions and flight hours.

Key customers and partnerships

In July 2023, BeeHero partnered with Monson's Honey and Pollination, an Australian beekeeping company, to bring BeeHero's hive monitoring technology to Australian beekeepers and growers.

Funding and financials

In May 2023, The company has raised EUR 461,680 (~USD 500,000) from a Bulgarian venture capital, Webit Investment Network to enhance Webit’s portfolio geographically  across Europe, the US and the Middle East and sectors across food, agriculture, education, healthcare and furniture.