Israeli Ag-Tech Startup BloomX Raises $13 Million for Robotic Pollination
Translated & summarized from Calcalist by baba
Israeli ag-tech firm BloomX has raised $13 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital raised to $20 million. The company develops robotic pollination solutions using AI and robotics to address challenges posed by climate change and declining natural pollinators. Its technologies, offered as a "Pollination-as-a-Service" model, include systems for blueberries and avocados. BloomX aims to provide farmers with greater control and certainty in fruit production.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Israeli ag-tech company BloomX secured $13 million in Series A funding, led by Elah Fund.
- The company's total funding now stands at $20 million since its founding in 2019.
- BloomX develops robotic pollination solutions using AI to overcome limitations of natural pollinators.
- Its technologies are offered as a "Pollination-as-a-Service" model for farmers.
- Key products include Robee for blueberries and Yahav 2400 for avocados.
- Clients include companies from Peru, South Africa, and Israel.
Israeli ag-tech company BloomX has secured $13 million in Series A funding, led by Elah Fund. The investment round also saw participation from Rothschild Fund, Shd'ot Innovation, Tene Fund, OurCrowd, BioBee, Grain Field Crops, Gaza Coastal Growers Group, Kibbutzim Eyal, Horashim, Megal, and Kfar Glickson, alongside private investors and the Israel Innovation Authority. This brings the company's total funding to $20 million since its establishment in 2019. BloomX, founded by CEO Thai Shahar, CTO Avi Keren, and VP of Software Development Ido Senesh, employs 19 people, with 15 based in Rosh Haayin.
The increasing demand for pollination, driven by climate change, declining natural pollinators, and expanding agricultural areas, has outpaced the availability of honeybee hives. Furthermore, honeybees are not always the optimal pollinators due to flower structure or weather conditions. To address these challenges, BloomX has developed advanced robotics and AI-driven algorithms to transform pollination from a nature-dependent process into a manageable agricultural input.
BloomX's technologies are already in commercial use, offered as a Pollination-as-a-Service model. This allows farmers to utilize their pollination systems without significant capital investment. One such system, Robee, is designed for blueberry crops and mimics the buzz pollination mechanism of bumblebees by creating controlled vibrations on the plant to release and transfer pollen. Another system, Yahav 2400, launched this year for avocado orchards, uses high-voltage electrodes to create an electric field that attracts and detaches pollen grains from male flowers. These grains are collected on a textile material mimicking a bee's body and then transferred to female flowers.
Among BloomX's clients are Agrícola Cerro Prieto (ACP) and Fruitist from Peru, Allesbeste from South Africa, and Granot Group in Israel. "Modern agriculture can precisely manage variables like irrigation, fertilization, and crop protection, but pollination, a critical link in fruit production, remains a variable entirely dependent on nature's whims," stated Thai Shahar. "The technology we've developed doesn't replace bees; it works alongside them, providing farmers with operational and economic certainty. Our goal is clear: to enable the world to grow more food, with higher quality, in a sustainable manner adapted to the changing climate reality."
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