PollenPal is a hive box that sits underneath your deep boxes and watches for trouble - varroa mites, aggressive bees, missing queens. It sends you an alert on your phone so you can act before it's too late.
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Every year, beekeepers across the country lose nearly half their hives. The two biggest killers:
These tiny parasites latch onto your bees and spread deadly viruses through the hive. By the time you spot them during an inspection, the damage is already done. One infected hive can wipe out an entire yard within weeks.
Invasive "killer" bees move into your colonies, outcompete your European bees, and turn gentle hives aggressive. They can make it impossible to work your bees safely, and they spread fast across an operation.
Varroa mite attached to a honey bee
Africanized bee swarm
No complicated setup. No computer science degree needed. Just better information about your bees.
The PollenPal box sits right underneath your deep boxes as the base of your hive. It uses a camera and sound sensors to watch what's coming and going. Runs on solar power. No wires, no outlets needed.
Smart software looks at every bee entering your hive and checks for varroa mites, aggressive bee behavior, and signs of queen problems. Things that are nearly impossible to catch by eye.
When something looks wrong, you get a notification with a clear explanation of what's happening and what to do about it. No guesswork, just straightforward advice.
"Identifying and treating Africanization early would be worth 100k a year to our operation"
"How the f**k can you get through 10,000 hives with 10 employees?"
Example: 5,000-colony operation
| Without PollenPal | With PollenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Hive loss rate | 40% | 10% |
| Colonies remaining | 3,000 | 4,500 |
| Revenue | $1,200k | $1,425k |
| Replacement costs | $400k | $100k |
| Other costs | $600k | $713k |
| Total Margin | $200k | $613k |
PollenPal cost not included. Source: USDA NASS, ABJ, Bee Informed Partnership
"For my first 4 years, I spent $600 on lost hives, and I didn't know why I was losing them!"
"I just lost my 3rd hive and I'm ready to throw in the towel"
Example: beekeeper with 5 hives
| Without PollenPal | With PollenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Hives lost | 2 | 0 |
| Replacement costs | $500 | $0 |
| Other costs | $600 | $750 |
| Total annual costs | $1,100 | $750 |
| Honey collected | 150 lbs | 250 lbs |
| Value of honey | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Annual value added | - | $1,350 |
PollenPal cost not included. Source: USDA NASS, ABJ, Bee Informed Partnership
Robert and Danny are lifelong friends, University of Florida engineers, and the co-founders of PollenPal. Robert has kept bees for over 17 years. Last summer, he lived out of his car and drove across the country to sit down with commercial beekeepers and hear firsthand what they're dealing with. The same problems kept coming up: mites spreading faster than anyone can inspect, aggressive bees taking over yards, and not enough hands to keep up.
The idea behind PollenPal is simple: what if every hive could tell you when something's wrong, before you lose it?
Danny, an aerospace engineer who built spacecraft at Blue Origin and now leads satellite delivery at Apex Space, brought the hardware expertise to make it real. Together they designed and built a device that watches your hive entrance 24/7 and sends you an alert when it spots trouble. No more guessing. No more finding out too late.
With guidance from 4 Master Beekeepers and a research team at Columbia University, PollenPal is built on real science and real beekeeping experience.
We're looking for beekeepers to join our early access program. Sign up and we'll be in touch.
PollenPal is a machine learning-powered hardware and software solution that helps beekeepers detect threats and manage operations. Pilots deployed. Strong customer pull. Seeking investment to scale.
Get in TouchGlobal apiculture and pollination is a $235B market. The US alone represents $800M in beekeeping, growing at 9% CAGR.
Global pollination economy. Food production reliant on pollinators
Global apiculture + adjacent pest detection (orchards, almonds, aquaculture)
US hive management. Commercial, hobbyist, and partnership penetration
Colony losses are accelerating. The workforce is aging. And the industry has no scalable solution.
US beekeepers lose ~40% of colonies annually (48% in 2023). Varroa mites spread deadly viruses undetected until collapse. Africanized bees cause aggressive behavior and queen rejection. Replacing dead hives costs $2.5B+ globally per year.
Median commercial beekeeper age is 66. 79% use no digital management tools. Few operations keep written SOPs. Late detection forces harmful chemical treatments. The industry is ripe for technological disruption.
A hardware and software platform combining computer vision, IoT sensors, and actionable dashboards for proactive hive management.
"Identifying and treating Africanization early would be worth 100k a year to our operation"
"For my first 4 years, I spent $600 on lost hives, and I didn't know why I was losing them!"
| Traditional | With PollenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Hive loss rate | 40% | 10% |
| Revenue | $1,200k | $1,425k |
| Total costs | $1,000k | $813k |
| Total Margin | $200k | $613k |
| Traditional | With PollenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Hives lost | 2 | 0 |
| Total costs | $1,100 | $750 |
| Honey value | $1,500 | $2,500 |
| Value added | - | $1,350 |
MVP deployed, customer interest validated, commercial pilots confirmed.
Big Idea Pitch Competition 2025 Winners
Two channels to unlock scale with low customer acquisition cost.
Corporate beekeeping platforms manage hives across 24+ US cities for corporate clients. PollenPal adds continuous monitoring between beekeeper visits, enabling a premium "tech-enabled" service tier.
Honey and pollinator-focused brands depend on healthy, sustainable hives with supply chain traceability. PollenPal monitors their supply chain apiaries, and the brand subsidizes the cost.
PollenPal's low-cost IoT + computer vision platform extends naturally to other agricultural monitoring needs.
IoT devices tailored for orchards, imaging pests like aphids, enabling precise intervention and cutting harvest losses.
Optical sensors monitoring almond orchards for tree health, pollination efficiency, and pest detection.
Submersible monitoring systems detecting sea lice and diseases in real-time for sustainable fish farming.
PollenPal creates value for every player in the apiculture ecosystem.
Reduce colony losses, contribute learnings to improve detection accuracy
Boost crop yields and pollination reliability from healthier colonies
Reliable hive data for better contract fulfillment and reduced transport risks
Subsidize costs via colony health programs; grants up to $200k available
Robert Schulte & Daniel Drew, Co-Founders
Ex-BCG, Columbia MBA. UF engineering. 17+ years beekeeping experience. Cross-country road trip interviewing commercial operators.
Spacecraft Manufacturing Engineer at Apex. Ex-Blue Origin. UF engineering. Leading satellite delivery in LA. 9+ year partnership with Robert.
1 Columbia Research Scientist (computer vision, backed by Google + NVIDIA). 4 Columbia engineering students building ML pipeline and web app through Columbia Build Lab.
4 Master Beekeeper advisors providing guidance on hive management and treatment protocols. Commercial beekeeper partners deploying devices and contributing field data.
Interested in learning more about PollenPal? We'd love to hear from you.