#17 Bees, Climate, and Food Supply: Beewise’s Fight Against Colony Collapse One Beehive at a Time

Let's dive into the Insight, Inspiration & Impact behind Beewise with Saar Safra

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• WSA Winning Year: 2020

• Award: The World Summit Award

• Category: Environment & Green Energy

• Founders: Saar Safra, Yossi Sorin, Boaz Peterzil, Eliyah Radzyner

• Country: Israel

• On WSA website: https://wsa-global.org/winner/beewise/

Saar Safra’s journey started not among beehives, but in the fast-paced tech world of Seattle, where he spent 15 years as a serial entrepreneur, launching five startups. Originally from Israel, Saar and his family built a life in the U.S., raising their children as American citizens. In 2017, a desire to be closer to family brought them back to Israel, a move that unexpectedly set the stage for Beewise, a company committed to protecting bees, one of nature’s most essential pollinators. This is the story of how a chance encounter ignited a purpose-driven mission to safeguard the global food supply.

A Leap of Faith and a Chance Encounter

When Saar arrived in Israel, he faced a new challenge: rebuilding his network from scratch. With no local connections, he decided to offer his expertise pro bono to startups, helping with product development, fundraising, and strategy. It was a way to meet people, learn the ecosystem, and find his next purpose. Among the five startups he mentored was one led by a beekeeper, a man who would become his co-founder and change the course of his life.

This beekeeper, a passionate and intelligent individual with 18 years of experience tending hives, shared a sobering reality: bees, critical to pollinating 75% of the world’s fruits and vegetables, were dying at an alarming rate. Globally, 40% of bee colonies collapse each year due to climate change, pesticides, pests, and lack of biodiversity. Saar, who admitted he knew little about bees beyond their sting, was captivated by the urgency of the problem and the potential for impact. “It hit my criteria,” he recalls, “impactful for the planet, a billion-dollar business, and deep tech.”

What started as a six-month pro bono collaboration turned into a full commitment. Saar left his other projects to co-found Beewise with the beekeeper, driven by a shared vision to save bees using cutting-edge technology. Their mission wasn’t just about business; it was about safeguarding the global food supply and preserving nature’s delicate balance.

Insight Through Innovation: The Beehome

The beekeeper’s insight was simple yet profound: beekeepers are often too late to save their hives. Wooden beehives scattered across fields offer no real-time data, and by the time a beekeeper travels hours to check them, the colony may already be lost to heat, cold, starvation, or pesticides. His vision was to create a system that monitors bees 24/7 and intervenes instantly, like a robotic guardian.

Saar brought his tech expertise to turn this vision into reality. The result was the Beehome, a solar-powered, AI-driven robotic beehive that houses 10 bee colonies, roughly a million bees. Equipped with cameras, sensors, and a robotic arm, the Beehome uses computer vision (built on TensorFlow, the same model powering facial recognition) to monitor bee behavior, detect issues like hunger or disease, and respond in real time. If bees are starving, the robotic arm delivers food. If pesticides are detected in the air, the hive seals to protect the colony. If temperatures fluctuate, thermal regulation keeps conditions stable.

The Beehome doesn’t just save bees; it redefines beekeeping. Traditional hives see a 48% colony collapse rate in the U.S., but Beewise’s devices have reduced this to 7.59%, a number that’s improved from 20% when they started five years ago. For Saar, the bees are the true customers. “Everything we do, we consult with the bee,” he says, noting that if bees don’t like their home, they’ll leave for a nearby tree. The fact that bees stay, and colonies thrive, is proof of Beewise’s impact.

Values That Drive Impact

At the heart of Beewise is a commitment to purpose over profit, though the two are intertwined. Saar’s decision to focus on bees wasn’t driven by market trends but by a conscious choice to tackle the planet’s biggest challenges. “Just talking about it is greenwashing,” he says. “You want to change the world? Apply yourself 150%.” For Saar, bees are a strategic linchpin, touching the lives of 8 billion people through their role in pollinating crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, coffee, and cotton, not to mention 95% of the world’s colorful flowers.

Beewise’s success metric reflects this ethos: for every dollar of revenue, they save 12 bees, up from 4 when they started. This focus on measurable impact guides their work, from refining the Beehome’s features to expanding their reach. Yet, their values also shine in their partnership with commercial growers like Blue Diamond, which markets 40% of the world’s almonds. By providing pollination services rather than selling devices, Beewise optimizes its assets, moving Beehomes from almond fields in February to avocado groves in April, ensuring growers get the bees they need without the burden of ownership.

Challenges and the Path Ahead

Despite their progress, Beewise faces a significant hurdle: capital. With over 1,000 Beehomes in the U.S., each fully booked for the next five years, demand outstrips supply. Customers, including major growers, have prepaid for 10,000 devices, but manufacturing at scale requires substantial investment. “It’s all about capital,” Saar explains. “Write a bigger check, and we’ll make more devices.”

Climate change, the primary driver of colony collapse, adds urgency. Saar notes that the past decade has seen a 12% jump in collapse rates, largely due to erratic weather patterns that confuse bees. A warm winter tricks them into foraging, only for a cold snap to leave them without food or reserves. The Beehome mitigates this with thermal regulation, but Saar’s ultimate wish, if he had a magic wand, is to reduce carbon in the air. “It would take so much stress off the planet,” he says, reflecting his deep concern for future generations, including his own children.

Inspiration for a Better Future

Saar Safra’s journey from Seattle tech entrepreneur to bee savior is a testament to the power of inspiration leading to insight. His chance encounter with a beekeeper sparked a realization that technology could address one of humanity’s most pressing challenges. By combining AI, robotics, and a relentless focus on impact, Beewise is not only saving bees but also ensuring that farmers, consumers, and ecosystems thrive.

For those wondering how one person can make a difference, Saar’s story offers a clear answer: find a problem that matters, apply your skills wholeheartedly, and measure your success by the lives, or in this case, the bees, you save. As Beewise grows, their work reminds us that small creatures can have an outsized impact, and so can we, if we choose to act.

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