Up to 20% of all species that live in France and Germany have disappeared from Europe’s biodiversity in the past 20 years alone. France is ranked sixth on the list of countries with the most threatened species.
Lombardia, Italy-based climate tech startup 3Bee, which was created with the goal of effectively contributing to biodiversity by combining biology, electronics, and artificial intelligence, has raised €5M in a Series A round of funding from Ag funder Grow impact fund and Anya Capital.
The newly raised funds will be used to strengthen the company’s biodiversity impact and technology data mapping infrastructure, as well as for recruitment across international business development, awareness-raising programmes, and ESG service development verticals.
Niccol Calandri and Riccardo Balzaretti founded 3Bee in 2017, with the goal of preserving biodiversity and the quality of life of pollinators by lowering bee mortality rates through sophisticated bee health monitoring and diagnostic systems. 3Bee now has 42 employees.
HiveTech technology
HiveTech, a new technology created by the company, is an IoT-equipped 4.0 beehive that tracks bee health and enables beekeepers to make fewer trips to the apiary and treatments.
According to 3Bee, its technology can increase pollination by 30% while lowering bee mortality by 25%.
The Italian start-up has collaborated with a network of more than 5,000 farmers, businesses, and beekeepers since its inception.
According to the company, Pollinate the Planet has already protected, watched over, and restored 10,000 hectares, as well as monitored more than 150M bees. Over 500 brands from the logistics, real estate, fashion, food, retail, agri, and human care industries have worked with it.
Additionally, the company has partnered with Genagricola to create regenerative approaches to photovoltaics and pollinator-proof agriculture.
