June 30, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Bees are our critical partners, safeguarding human well-being and the success of our agricultural production systems. They are a key component to food security, with one out of every three bites of food we eat being dependent on the work they do as pollinators. They ensure biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and human nutrition, with more than 70 percent of the world’s fruit and seed crops dependent, at some level, on natural pollination for continued production.

From apples to almonds to alfalfa grown for cattle feed, every year crops valued at $20 billion depend on bees, which also produce $150 million in honey on an annual basis.

However a chaotic maelstrom of climate change, pollution, loss of habitat and biodiversity, and the mysteries of colony collapse disorder are causing bee colonies to decrease yearly. In fact, in 2019 U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of their colonies (with some losses being much higher) – the highest national winter losses ever recorded. 

Dozens of startups and innovative agtech companies have made their mark in the fight for our pollinators, many of which have been featured in GAI News. And today we share that another – Beeflow – has raised $8.3 million through a Series A led by Ospraie Ag Science (OAS).

Joining the round were Steve Jurvetson, a board member of Tesla and SpaceX; Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon; Worldwide Consumer; Vectr Ventures; SOSV’s IndieBio; and Grid Exponential. 

Founded in 2016 by Matias Viel and based in Los Angeles, Beeflow helps farmers increase yields, reduce environmental impacts, and reduce the pressure on bee populations by feeding bees with proprietary, plant-based supplements.

The company’s pollination technology platform has shown to improve yields of crops such as blueberries and almonds by as much as 90 percent, while reducing the mortality of bees by up to 70 percent.

“Bees are responsible for pollinating 70 percent of global crop production and play a significant role in our food supply chain,” said Viel, “but the agriculture industry historically has been hard on insects, and many of the planet’s 20,000 bee species are near extinction. We need to restore insect biodiversity to make agriculture more sustainable. At Beeflow, we use nature as a technology to produce more food with less environmental impact.”

Beeflow’s platform is grounded in extensive scientific research in how bee nutrition and behavior influence the pollinator’s health and performance. Leading Beeflow’s efforts is Dr. Walter Farina, an Argentianian researcher with more than 20 years of experience studying bee brains and communication.

This work has culminated in the development of ToBEE – a technology that trains bees to pollinate targeted flowers. It also has resulted in the development of plant-based dietary supplements that offer significant benefits to the bee ecosystem and farmers, with bees in cooler temperatures improving their pollination rates by up to seven times.

“We are impressed with Beeflow’s advances in bee health and pollination efficiency, which are critically important to a durable and well-functioning set of interconnected ecosystems,” said Yogesh Mago, senior partner, Ospraie Ag Science.

“OAS is excited to lead the Series A round, supporting Beeflow’s continued innovation on the farm and those concomitant positive externalities to the environment.”

Currently, Beeflow is partnering with some of the world’s foremost names in food production, including Driscoll’s, the largest berry producer in the U.S., to maximize berry size and quantity per plant, Woolf Farming, and BASF.

“We are very excited to work with investors who believe that bees will play a role in leading the transition to a more regenerative and sustainable agriculture system,” said Viel. “Pollination was a largely forgotten issue by the agriculture industry, but now ‘bee-friendly’ practices are becoming standard for the food supply chain. It’s a perfect time for us to scale and grow our team.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.