We are delighted to announce the Series A financing of Beeflow, from TechCrunch: “Bees are absolutely critical to the health of our agricultural system, ecosystem, and overall wellbeing as a species here on Earth. And yet bee populations are decreasing and extinction concerns are growing.

The startup uses proprietary scientific technology that essentially makes bees healthier, particularly in cold weather. A wealth of research led the company to understand that certain plant-based foods and molecules, when fed to the bees, can reduce the mortality rate of bees by up to 70 percent. Beeflow’s technology ensures that the bees are healthy and strong and can fly up to 7x more during colder weather than they’d be able to without it. This means that those bees are much more likely to effectively and efficiently pollinate crops for the farmers.

Beyond reducing the mortality rate of bees, the company also offers a second product called ToBEE, which trains the bees to target a specific crop, such as blueberries or almonds. Combined, these Beeflow products have increased crop yields for farmers up to 90 percent.”

8 responses to “We are abuzz for making a PaaS — Pollination as a Service 🐝”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    TLDR; Their science diet and scent training has led to up to:
    • 70% reduction in bee mortality
    • 7x flight span
    • 90% boost to crop yields

    Reply
  2. Not the Fake Nate Avatar
    Not the Fake Nate

    this is bullshit

    Reply
  3. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    [https://www.flickr.com/photos/lyonsnate] why do you say that, and what do you know of it?

    Reply
  4. Not the Fake Nate Avatar
    Not the Fake Nate

    [https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] 1) What, exactly, in the name of bleeding Jesus, have honey bees been doing for the last million years? Working. They don’t need some Silicon valey, Elon Musk wannabe to "put them to work."
    2) Exactly what have bees been eating in the past that wasn’t "plant based?" Have you ever even seen a honey bee in its own environment? I wonder.
    3) How, exactly, does this help with colony collapse disorder? Have you even heard of that?
    4) "Pollination as a Service" What lead-paint chip eating moron came up with that? Seriously? Only no-load, golf players still talk about SaaS.

    Reply
  5. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Luckily the people who make the world a better place pay no attention to this kind of attitude. Perhaps you take issue with the word choice of TechCrunch. The Bee emoji is on me.

    Meanwhile, you missed casting unfounded vitriol on the product name, ToBee, so I’ll give a nice visual parallel worlds and some more of my photos Tongue of BeeSpring has Sprung Oh, and a colony collapse as well Amityville Horror?

    Reply
  6. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Heard on NPR this morning: the number of flying insects has declined 60% in the past 17 years! This is not some B-movie. It’s essential to survival. "This vital study suggests that the number of flying insects is declining by an average of 34% per decade, this is terrifying."

    Methodology: a citizen science project, taking photos of license plates (for a standard size) across UK, from Sky News.

    Reply
  7. conall.. Avatar
    conall..

    I cant believe the "70% reduction in bee mortality" and "7x flight span" they seem biologically implausible.

    You say "TLDR" but there is no long read/technical/scientific link in your picture! just something very nonscientific and promotional aimed at investors.

    There is big money in migratory pollination services (especially for almonds and other mass monoculture crops in USA) so there is money to be made.

    Thanks for adding to Bees and Beekeeping (honeybees only)

    Reply
  8. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    And from Bloomberg today: "Beeflow’s solution to a multibillion-dollar challenge facing farmers today.
    As extreme weather, habitat loss and pesticides continue to kill off honeybees, an insect critical for turning flowers into fruits, scientists are figuring out how to safeguard the remaining population and maximize its pollination potential.

    For Beeflow, that means essentially crafting better diets for bees. Just like humans take supplements for their health, the company regularly feeds its honeybees a supplement designed to enhance their immune system. Composed of amino acids collected from floral nectar as well as plant-based hormones, it allows honeybees to carry out as many as seven times more flights in cold weather, according to the company, and more than double their usual pollen load. From there, Beeflow uses a different supplement to effectively set the bees’ “flight GPS” to specific crops.

    So far, the company has deployed its solution across 10,000 acres of farmland in the US, Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Beeflow says its pollination service has produced an average increase of 32% in crop yields compared to conventional farms, based on 50-plus field tests with blueberries, almonds and raspberries.

    It took Beeflow more than three years and over 1,000 lab tests to identify and create a synthetic version of the exact floral volatile of blueberry that signals food for honeybees, De la Luz says. But the startup’s patience appears to be paying off. Beeflow says its two supplements, combined with strategic placement of beehives in farmland, help increase blueberry yields by up to 60%.

    In the US alone, beekeepers lost an estimated 39% of their honeybee colonies over the 12 months ending in April 2022, according to an annual survey. Roughly two thirds of the world’s crops rely on honeybees and other pollinators, and one recent study found that insufficient pollination is causing about 500,000 early deaths a year."

    Reply

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