November 20, 2018

ApisProtect, an Irish agtech startup working to save the world’s bee population has raised $1.8 million in seed funding through a round led by Finistere Ventures and the Atlantic Bridge University Fund. Other investors included in the round were Radicle Growth, the Yield Lab, and Enterprise Ireland.

Traditionally, beekeepers would have to rely on periodic manual hive checks that were inefficient in regard to detecting diseases, pests, and other issues that can significantly damage or eliminate a hive.

Founded by preeminent researchers, including CEO Dr. Fiona Edwards Murphy, ApisProtect uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor honeybee colonies via real-time hive monitoring powered by long-range, cellular, and satellite-enabled sensors that are retrofitted to existing beehives.

The company then applies proprietary big data and machine learning techniques to convert the raw data collected on hive conditions, health, and activity levels into valuable information and actionable insights for beekeepers.

“For the last 20 to 30 years, bees have been facing problems that they never experienced before in history,” Fiona Edwards Murphy, CEO of ApisProtect told GAI News. “Our technology is helping the beekeeper apply the knowledge that they already have, but in a much more effective and controlled manner.”

Bee Mindful

Bees pollinate approximately one third of the crops we eat, and approximately 75 percent of the specialty crops grown, contributing $174 billion in pollination value across the agri-food industry per year.

And although the USDA notes in a July 17 report that bee populations in North America have been in decline since the 1940s, it was a little more than 10 years ago when a crisis hit when thousands of hives were lost and a new disorder was termed: colony collapse disorder.

Mysteriously, worker bees would suddenly abandon a hive, leaving the queen, brood, or young bees, a few nurse bees, and full reserves of pollen and honey behind. However, a hive cannot function properly without its worker bees and would soon die.

During the 2006/2007 season, beekeepers began reporting losses of between 30 and 90 percent of their hives without apparent cause. Much scientific work has been done in an attempt to discover the root cause, but bees and their keepers are still struggling. In the 2015/16 winter season, U.S. commercial beekeepers lost 38 percent of their colonies – more than double the considered acceptable loss of 15 percent, according to a report published by the Journal of Apicultural Research.

Losses that season were slightly lower in other countries, but still concerning – Canada reported losses of 16.8 percent, Central European beekeepers reported losses of 11.9 percent, and New Zealand saw losses of 10.7 percent.

Compounding this issue is the fact that between 2008 and 2013, the diversity of wild bees in the U.S. also feel by 23 percent.

“The evidence is overwhelming that hundreds of the native bees we depend on for ecosystem stability, as well as pollination services worth billions of dollars, are spiraling toward extinction,” said Kelsey Kopec, a native pollinator researcher at the Center for Biological Diversity, and the author of  Pollinators in Peril: A systematic status review of North American and Hawaiian native bees released in March of last year. “It’s a quiet but staggering crisis unfolding right under our noses…”

Bee Strong

Working to help reverse these numbers and save our critical pollinators, ApisProtect is now monitoring the health of more than 6 million bees in hives across North America and Europe, delivering a 24/7 early detecting and warning system so at-risk hives have a better chance of being saved.

“With a science-driven, multidisciplinary leadership team, ApisProtect is primed to fundamentally change the way commercial beekeepers around the globe manage their hives,” said Kieran Furlong of Finistere Ventures.

This work is so critical that ApisProtect was the first Irish investment made by Finistere through its Ireland Agtech Fund.

“Our Ireland Agtech Fund is dedicated to investing in early stage agtech companies reshaping the global food and ag industries. ApisProtect was the prime candidate for the fund’s first Irish investment,” said Furlong. “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.”

Recognized by many for its work – ApisProtect has received awards from the Irish Research Council, The IEEE, IBM, The Irish Laboratory Awards, Google, and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and was an emerging company that presented at the AgTech Nexus 2017 Start-Up Hub in Dublin.

Moving forward, ApisProtect plans to use this investment to rapidly scale up by deploying its technology across more climates, foraging areas, and bee sub-species, with a focus on North America, South Africa, and the UK. There are also plans in place to expand their team in Ireland.

ApisProtect is uniquely placed to disrupt a global, well-established industry with robust technology derived from scientific research,” said Alison Crawford with Atlantic Bridge. “Atlantic Bridge has a strong track record of supporting Irish companies through key stages of development and helping them commercialize their technology globally. We believe ApisProtect has huge potential and look forward to helping scale the company internationally.”

“Our investors have a strong track record of supporting companies through key stages of development and helping them commercialize their technology globally through their networks,” Edwards Murphy told GAI News. “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.”

~ Lynda Kiernan