Bees are critical for ensuring an abundant food supply year-round, but the bee population is in big trouble.
More than one-third of the crops we eat are pollinated by bees, but 40% of bee colonies are collapsing each year, California-based Beewise said.
One reason is climate change – specifically, stronger hurricanes, more frequent fires and the use of more pesticides.
The wooden beehive was invented around 1850 for commercial pollination, but these basic boxes are not very protective and not at all nurturing.
Startup Beewise is taking on the traditional beehive with AI and robotics. The company invented the BeeHome, a robotic, AI-directed beehive that growers can rent.
“A robotic beehive is essentially like a traditional beehive. It’s completely backwards compatible, so it uses the same frame, same bees. We populate these robotic beehives, and in that robotic beehive, there’s cameras that monitor the bees,” said Saar Safra, CEO of Beewise.
The cameras connect with AI software that monitors each individual bee and identifies its needs. The robotic apparatus can then treat the bees according to their characteristics.
“So if there’s not enough food in the hive, there’s a food container inside this robotic beehive and the robot will take some food supply to the bees. Same thing with medicine, thermoregulation, too cold, too warm, there’s a storm. We can keep the bees comfortable in their home without them being harmed by external weather patterns,” said Safra.
Last year, hurricanes Helene and Milton damaged or destroyed thousands of commercial beehives in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina alone.
The BeeHome costs about the same as the traditional wooden beehive and can robotically manage up to 10 hives each, saving growers on labor costs. Next-gen products could scale that up dramatically — a feature particularly attractive to investors.
“You’ll be looking at a BeeHome in a few years that can not only manage 10, but go up to 40 or more. And that’s where you get a lot of operating margin and operating profit off of the same investment,” said John Caddedu, co-founder and general partner at Corner Ventures.
Safra said the Beehome results in 70% lower bee colony loss and healthier hives. There are already thousands of these operating in the field. Safra said revenue, device and customer growth have been enormous, adding that the devices are seeing gross margins of 40%.
In addition to Corner Ventures, Beewise is backed by Insight Partners, Fortissimo, Lool Ventures, and APG. Its total funding so far is $170 million.
CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.
