BeeOdiversity and the EIC Accelerator: Bees Turned Into Software
BeeOdiversity measures biodiversity and pollution around a site by analysing the pollen bees bring back to their hives. The company, founded in Brussels in 2012, sells this as a service to clients in sectors such as food and drink, real estate and smart cities. Its EIC project set out to turn that service into software: a platform that assesses a site "with just 1 click, without having to analyse the samples coming from each site", according to CORDIS.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,746,209 towards BeeOimpact, a €2.5 million project from March 2023 to June 2025. The final report lists a smart beehive with extra environmental sensors, a patent application for computer vision that detects pollen automatically, a biodiversity mapping app and a B2B risk assessment platform built on "10 years of biodiversity data". In March 2024 the EIC awarded it a second grant, €2,485,834 from EIC Transition for BeeOmetrics, which uses wild bees' nests as pollution indicators. Its accounts show staff rising to 17.9 full-time equivalents in 2025 and a profit every year since 2022, according to Companyweb.
Company file
- Legal entity
- BeeOdiversity SRL, 0848.557.582, Ixelles (Brussels)
- Founded
- 7 September 2012
- CEO
- Michaël Van Cutsem
- Products
- BeeOimpact platform, BeeOmonitoring, BeeOgarden app
- Other EU projects
- UPSURGE (Horizon 2020); BeeOmetrics (EIC Transition)
- EIC project
- BeeOimpact, 1 Mar 2023 to 30 Jun 2025
- EIC funding
- Blended finance; no EIC Fund investment announced
Where BeeOdiversity Stands Now
BeeOmetrics, fully funded by the EIC, runs until February 2027. BeeOdiversity's recent blog posts cover the EU Nature Restoration Law, the EU soil law and corporate sustainability reporting standards. It does not publish its turnover or client list.
The record
Bees as data sources, two EIC grants
BeeOdiversity used its EIC Accelerator grant to turn bee-based monitoring into software, then won an EIC Transition grant for a wild-bee follow-on.
- Sep 2012Company foundedBrussels
- Jun 2022EIC Accelerator cut-offBeeOimpact: from bees as a service to softwareblended finance
- Mar 2023EIC project startsSmart hive, pollen AI, app and B2B platform€1.75M grant
- Mar 2024EIC Transition grantBeeOmetrics, wild-bee monitoring to 2027€2.49M
- Jun 2025EIC Accelerator project endsPollen detection patent filed; platform deployed
- 2025AccountsProfit €346,945; 17.9 FTE
Companyweb, CORDIS, NCP Brussels.
The Technology: Reading the Landscape Through Pollen
BeeOdiversity collects pollen from hives, identifies the plants and tests for pollutants. The EIC project automated parts of this: pollen detection by computer vision, extra sensors in the hive, and machine learning that predicts site risks from a decade of data, so that clients do not need a sample analysed for every site. The report does not give accuracy figures for the models.
The team
Staff more than doubled
Average full-time equivalents.
Companyweb, BeeOdiversity SRL.
What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 70% of a €2.5M project
BeeOimpact ran from March 2023 to June 2025. CORDIS still lists it as signed.
CORDIS project 190123465. Values in € millions.
BeeOimpact promised a SaaS platform with smart monitoring and a garden app. The report shows each piece built and deployed. It does not say how many clients use the platform or how much it earns. CORDIS still lists the project as signed.
- Smart beehiveDeliveredPer final report.
- AI pollen detectionDeliveredPatent applied for.
- B2B platformDeployedPer final report.
- Platform adoptionNot publishedNo client figures.
The Money
BeeOdiversity's gross margin rose from €1.02 million in 2022 to €1.75 million in 2025, and it reported profits of between €310,000 and €422,000 in each of those years. Equity grew from €0.56 million to €3.42 million. The accounts summary does not show how much of its income came from grants.
The accounts
Growing and profitable
€ thousands. Belgian companies of this size report gross margin rather than turnover.
Companyweb, BeeOdiversity SRL (0848.557.582).
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
How much of BeeOdiversity's income comes from clients rather than grants, how many companies use the BeeOimpact platform, and whether the equity part of the blended award was invested are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC paid for its move from a lab service to software, and the company has kept growing without losses.
What the project promised
A SaaS platform using bee data to assess and improve biodiversity and pollution at client sites.
What the record shows
Smart hives, AI pollen detection and a platform delivered, a second EIC grant, and steady profitable growth.
The Verdict
Small, steady and profitable
BeeOdiversity did what the EIC funded and runs a profitable business. It is still small, and how much of its income is grants rather than sales cannot be seen.
BeeOdiversity and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
Industry
Climate and environmentEnvironmental monitoring
- Focus
- Biodiversity monitoring
- Technologies
- Artificial intelligence
- Computer vision
- Keywords
- Bees
- Pollen analysis
- Pollution monitoring
- Corporate sustainability reporting