• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

TechNews

Technology breaking news

  • Home
  • Startups
  • Science
  • Cybersecurity
  • Review

ApisProtect raises $1.8 million for bee-monitoring sensors

November 20, 2018 by venturebeat.com Leave a Comment

The worldwide honeybee community is in a crisis. In the years leading up to 2013, over 10 million of the nearly 90 million managed beehives were lost — close to twice the normal rate. Eight years ago in Northern Ireland alone, beekeepers reported an alarming decline of greater than 50 percent.

Colony collapse disorder, as the phenomenon’s known — when worker bees in a colony disappear and leave a queen behind — has no single, agreed-upon cause, but Fiona Edwards Murphy believes internet of things technology might be able to trace the early warning signs. She’s the cofounder and CEO of ApisProtect, and Irish agricultural tech startup that today announced a $1.8 million seed round of financing led by Finistere Ventures and Atlantic Bridge Capital. Radicle Growth, the Yield Lab and Enterprise Ireland also participated in the investment round.

Murphy said the capital will be used to expand the company’s team in Ireland, and to “aggressively accelerate” international expansion into North America, South America, and the United Kingdon  — first in Salinas, California, where ApisProtect plans to open its first U.S. office at the Western Growers Association’s WG Center for Innovation and Technology. Additionally, she added, it’ll allow ApisProtect to deploy its technology in more climates, bee subspecies, and bee foraging areas.

Finistere Ventures’ Kieran Furlong and Atlantic Bridge Capital’s Alison Crawford will join the board of directors.

“Our investment partners offer deep knowledge of the pollination services market, as well as the agriculture and IoT technology sectors,” Murphy said. “This investment will allow us to accelerate our expansion as we work to create an extensive global hive health database to power our machine learning insights. The aim is to  help commercial pollinators and growers to optimize pollination.”

ApisProtect’s core technology enables beekeepers to keep tabs on hives remotely, 24/7, without having to perform periodic manual checks. Leveraging a combination of machine learning and satellite-enabled sensors retrofitted to existing beehives, it automatically alerts hive managers of important events. And it allows them to compare the productivity of each hive to previous seasons and other hives, or to dive deep into hive health and activity reports containing insights about how to improve yield.

The beekeeping business is no joke. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, honey bees contribute $174 billion worth of pollination to the agricultural food industry annually, or about 9.5 percent of the total value of the world’s production. They and other pollinators affect 45 percent of the world’s crop production.

“With a science-driven, multi-disciplinary leadership team, ApisProtect is primed to fundamentally change the way commercial beekeepers around the globe manage their hives,” Furlong said. “There is a need for technologies to aid pollination in agriculture, and the ApisProtect hive monitor technology has massive potential in key markets like California.”

ApisProtect currently monitors six million honey bees in 144 hives across North America and Europe, and has been in trials since the end of this summer. It competes with Nectar, another bee activity-monitoring startup that sells a puck-shaped sensor designed to measure humidity, temperature, sounds, vibrations, geolocation, weight, and other key vital signs within a hive.

Sign up for Funding Daily: Get the latest news in your inbox every weekday.

  • Auckland regional fuel tax will raise millions per month but consumers will pay
  • How smart sensors can help us care for our houseplants
  • Apple's Green Bonds funded $441.5 million of environmental safety, conservation, climate change action in 2016
  • Water meter warning: Major change as millions may be forced to install new readers
  • Development bank accused of lending millions to companies allegedly linked to forced labor in Xinjiang
  • Darkweb And Cybercrime Monitoring Startup Cyble announces US $10 Million in Series A Funding
  • Six million households face compulsory water meters
  • Putin sparks panic for millions of Britons as Russian vessels run riot off Irish coast
  • Why DraftKings and FanDuel Spent $206 Million on Ads This Year
  • How My Boss Monitors Me While I Work From Home
  • Real-time monitoring of sports betting to prevent match fixing set to be dropped
  • Strategic investors back startup CelLink's $250 million funding round
  • Korean firm adds $920 million to project in Thai Nguyen
  • Strategic Investors Back Startup CelLink's $250 Million Funding Round
  • Ukraine invasion, U.S.-led sanctions on Russia raise new questions about space station operations
  • Ukrainian volunteer group raises US$4m in bitcoin since Russian invasion, research shows
  • Monitoring May Have ‘Incidentally’ Picked Up Trump Aides, House Member Says
  • RoK firm adds 920 million USD to project in Thai Nguyen
  • Samsung adds 920 million USD to project in Thai Nguyen
  • SOCSO allocates RM3.57 mil to raise occupational safety and health awareness
ApisProtect raises $1.8 million for bee-monitoring sensors have 739 words, post on venturebeat.com at November 20, 2018. This is cached page on TechNews. If you want remove this page, please contact us.

Filed Under: Uncategorized ApisProtect, bees, category-/Business & Industrial/Agriculture & Forestry, category-/Science, funding daily, Internet of things, AI

Primary Sidebar

RSS Recent Stories

  • Where to Stream the ‘Jurassic Park’ Franchise in 2022
  • Sony promises over 20 PSVR 2 games at launch
  • As Elden Ring booms, Dark Souls’ servers are still broken
  • This nasty browser-hijacking malware is becoming a serious threat
  • Here’s why TCL’s PS5 Pro prediction doesn’t make much sense
  • Everyone’s favourite time-saving shortcut is coming to Google Drive
  • WordPress reveals its most affordable website builder option yet
  • The kids are ditching their physical wallets in favor of mobile payments
  • A dastardly new phishing scam is targeting tax software users
  • Google Docs vous donne désormais le contrôle ultime sur votre texte

Sponsored Links

  • COVID-19 new cases in Việt Nam on May 3 afternoon
  • Woman who fell from cliff rescued after 7 days
  • Events canceled prior to SEA Games opening
  • Thousands of fans flock to Việt Trì for football tickets
  • Apple slammed over working from home policy in employee open letter
Copyright © 2022 TechNews. Power by Wordpress.
Home - About Us - Contact Us - Disclaimers - DMCA - Privacy Policy - Submit your story