What is the name of your solution?
Robee / Crossbee
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Bio-mimicking pollination solutions
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
More than 80% of crops require insect pollination, and while there are over 20,000 wild bee species, that each pollinates specific crops, growers can no longer rely on the dwindling wild bee pollination to meet growing global food demands. As a result, less effective general pollinators are often introduced, (normally honey bees) to crop fields. This practice hampers agricultural productivity and quality, while also posing a threat to indigenous wild bees who are forced to compete with honey bees for food and are exposed to new diseases.
What is your solution?
Our goal is to provide a highly efficient and easy-to-use mechanized pollinator that empowers growers to effectively manage and attain control over the entire pollination process without exploiting bees.
BloomX’s artificial intelligence utilizes agronomical know-how with a variety of environmental data points such as plant fertility parameters, temperature and pollen receptiveness to pinpoint the optimal window for pollination. Simultaneously, we have developed crop-specific hardware devices to replicate natural pollination. To effectively pollinate blueberries for instance, we mimic the ‘buzz-pollination’ technique done naturally by bumblebees, using electric vehicles with mechanical arms to navigate between two rows of plants and vibrate their stems. Pollen then detaches and lands on flowers’ stigmas to pollinate them. Similarly, we have developed a ‘Collector Device’ for avocado trees with an electrostatic charge that strokes the perimeter of one avocado variety to release its sticky pollen grains. These grains are gathered onto a reusable frame which are then transmitted to a different variety of avocados in the same way that natural cross-pollination occurs. These technologies will later be modified for other crops that can benefit from them.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solutions will address crops that have pollination deficiencies, initially targeting the avocado($16B), blueberry($5B), tomatoes ($100B), and cocoa ($11B) markets.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Our team (15 employees) combines the right mix between agronomical, technical and business know-how.
Founders - Thai Sade, Founder & CEO; an entrepreneur with business management, operations, and sales experience. B.A in Sustainability & Government and a graduate of the Zell Entrepreneurship Program at IDC Herzliya. Ido Senesh, Founder & VP R&D, is a Software Engineer with vast experience in web development and big data from both the 8200 and the high-tech industry. BSc in computer science from the Technion. Avi Keren, Founder & CTO, a system engineer with vast experience in complex aviation systems at the Israeli Air Force, and a software developer. BSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Technion.
Key Manamegmtn team - Emily Speiser (VP Marketing), Samuel Dresel (VP Sales), Elad Hever (COO).
Key Employees - Dan Eliash (product design), Yarden Saad (mechanical designer), Erez Giat (head of mechanical design) Niv Kalmi (head of agronomy), Yahel Bar (technical field operation), Anat Dadia(technical field operation), Maira Galvao (full stack engineer), Eliran Yefet (QA), Lion Preiger (electronics engineer).
Professional Advisory board - Prof. Rafi Stern; Pollination researcher at Migal Institute for agricultural research and the head of the biotechnology department in Tel-Hai College in Israel, Ph.D. Gad Ish Am; Pollen ecology and plant ecology, Jonathan Henen; Ag-tech expert, former CTO of ADAMA and technology scouter at Trendlines, Ph.D. Gal Yarden; scientist, Ag-tech entrepreneur and investor, Ph.D. Inbar Maimon Pomernachik - biotechnology, biology and due-diligence expert, Ph.D. Ouzi Amouyal; Expert in genetics and plant health.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Adapt land and coastal areas to more extreme weather, including through climate-smart agriculture or restoring natural ecosystems to mitigate impacts.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Rishpon, Israel
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Scale: A sustainable enterprise working in several communities or countries that is focused on increased efficiency
How many people does your solution currently serve?
10 Leading agriculture corporates from Latam's blueberry and avocado markets (Peru, Mexico, Colombia), the US, Israel, and South Africa.
Why are you applying to Solve?
Solve provides a platform for individuals/teams to showcase their ventures and innovations and receive support (funding, strategy, business development and more) to help bring those to fruition.
As a company, we are passionate about solving global challenges and want to be part of a community of innovators working towards this goal. We see Solve as an opportunity to collaborate with diverse groups of people from different backgrounds, disciplines, and sectors to grow better our innovative solutions into new markets.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Thai Sade, Founder & CEO
What makes your solution innovative?
The innovation in our solution was inspired by nature. Our biomimicking approach to predicting the right time to pollinate & mechanical application that mimics the natural pollination process offer a unique approach to problem-solving that draws on millions of years of evolution and adaptation.
We believe we have developed a scaleable, affordable, and simple solution that is done naturally with high impact and outcomes.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
By empowering growers to produce greater yields with less land, and alleviating the need to introduce non-native pollinating insects, BloomX lowers the environmental footprint of crop production. We are trying to build a pollination platform that will allow growers to control the pollination process, in crops where insets are ineffective. In the coming years in avocados & blueberries and later into greenhouses, other trees such as almonds, apples, coffee and cocoa.
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
12. Responsible consumption and production: "A growing global population with deteriorating natural resources and increased urbanization means more people to feed with less water, farmland, and rural labor" (FAO - http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/goals/goal-12/en/). Using our device will enable growers to produce more with less land, which creates a better and an easiest alternative for them to increase their revenue.
13. Climate action: "Food production threatens to be the greatest casualty of climate change, but sustainable agriculture can be part of the solution" (FAO- http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/goals/goal-). We can see in this video - 13/en/ - an example of the urgency we need to use our crop production land. Our solution can be a win-win solution for Agri-corporates/growers to increase revenue by using their current lands more efficiently.
What is your theory of change?
More than 80% of crops require insect pollination, and while there are over 20,000 wild bee species, that each pollinates specific crops, growers can no longer rely on the dwindling wild bee pollination to meet growing global food demands. As a result, less effective general pollinators are often introduced, (normally honey bees) to crop fields. This practice hampers agricultural productivity and quality, while also posing a threat to indigenous wild bees who are forced to compete with honey bees for food and are exposed to new diseases.
Our vision is to provide data-driven artificial pollination solutions that will manage and optimize growers' yields, in crops where insects are ineffective, by mimicking the natural pollination process and leveraging it through technology. Our solutions will address crops that have pollination deficiencies, initially targeting the avocado($16B), blueberry($5B), tomatoes ($100B), and cocoa ($11B) markets.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
BloomX’s artificial intelligence utilizes agronomical know-how with a variety of environmental data points such as plant fertility parameters, temperature and pollen receptiveness to pinpoint the optimal window for pollination. Simultaneously, we have developed crop-specific hardware devices to replicate natural pollination. To effectively pollinate blueberries for instance, we mimic the ‘buzz-pollination’ technique done naturally by bumblebees, using electric vehicles with mechanical arms to navigate between two rows of plants and vibrate their stems. Pollen then detaches and lands on flowers’ stigmas to pollinate them. Similarly, we have developed a ‘Collector Device’ for avocado trees with an electrostatic charge that strokes the perimeter of one avocado variety to release its sticky pollen grains. These grains are gathered onto a reusable frame which are then transmitted to a different variety of avocados in the same way that natural cross-pollination occurs. These technologies will later be modified for other crops that can benefit from them.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new technology
How do you know that this technology works?
In the last few years, we've validated our technology in avocados and blueberries with growers, from small-scale to large-scale field trials, demonstrating up to 30% yield increase and affecting the quality of the fruits. That led us in 2022 for the first year of revenues, gaining $350K. In 2023 we are scaling our activity, targeting $1.5M in revenues.
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:
bloomx.ag
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
15 Employees, all full time.
How long have you been working on your solution?
4 years.
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
1/3 of our company are women (as well in our management team). Our goal is to have equal diversity between women to men (hopefully after raising our next funding round in 2023/2024).
What is your business model?
We sell pollination services that include: our machines, dashboard (to predict the right time to pollinate +managing the operation), agronomical know-how, and technical support priced per hectare. $1,000 per hectare for avocados. $1,300 per hectare for blueberries.
Go-to-market:
1.Through distributors that will provide the service in related geographies
2.Direct sales to large growers
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
We are planning to raise our next $25M round, which hopefully will be the last round, in 2023/2024 which will lead us to a cash positive point at the end of 2025/begging of 2026.
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Our Organization
BloomX Ltd.