Flash Forest Completes $11.4 Million Series A Round to Support Reforestation Using Drones and AI
Toronto-based, Flash Forest, has completed an $11.4 million CAD Series A funding round. Flash Forest is an aerial reforestation company that uses technologies such as drones, Artificial Intelligence, Geographic Information Systems, and plant science technology to automate the manual processes involved in reforestation to help fight the impacts of climate change. The use of these technologies has allowed Flash Forest to bring new levels of accuracy, precision and speed to the reforestation industry. Flash Forest’s goal is to plant one billion trees by 2028.
The Series A funding round was co-led by the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good and OurCrowd, an online global venture investing platform. Flash Forest will use the capital raised to expand the Company’s post-wildfire reforestation solution across North America.
In addition to the Series A funding round, Flash Forest entered into a multi-year commercial agreement with TELUS’s sustainability and environmental team. Through this partnership, TELUS will offer Flash Forest’s drone-planted trees to its clients.
Flash Forest uses seedpods which are comprised of tree seeds, water-retention additives, beneficial bacteria and fungi, mineral and nutrients and a healthy growth medium conditioner. The seedpods are self-sustaining which gives the seedlings a jump start on the critical first few years of life. The Company claims it can mass produce over 200,000 seedpods per day, which eliminates the energy-intensive nursery phase normally required in tree planting. Due to the compact size of the seedpods, Flash Forest is also able to reduce waste and energy in the transportation process.
In regards to the Company’s drones, Flash Forest is equipped with deployers which are able to embed seedpods beneath the soil surface, eliminating the need for site prep and further expediting the reforestation process.
Flash Forest believes it will be able to reach its goal of planting one billion trees by 2028 by automating the manufacturing and deployment of its seedpods.
Photo Credit: Clay Banks on Unsplash
Expertise
Insights
-
Technology
Brick by Brick: How a New Wave of Products Is Fighting Back Against Screen Addiction
Smartphones have become integral to daily life, raising increasing apprehensions about their impact on attention, productivity and overall digital habits. As reliance on smartphones has grown, so has… -
Technology
Breaking and Entering (New Markets): How GTA is Disrupting the Tech Supply Chain
Developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive recently opened pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI (“GTA 6”), marking the first franchise instalment in thirteen years. Since the launch of… -
Technology
How Sniff is Rethinking Local Social Networking
A new iOS app called Sniff is taking a different approach to social networking by connecting dog owners within the same neighbourhood. Rather than encouraging users to build broad online communities… -
Technology
Self-Driving Car Service, Waymo, has Eyes on Toronto
The fully autonomous ridesharing service, Waymo, is looking to add a new ridesharing option for Torontonians with self-driving vehicles. Waymo is a driverless taxi service where users can hail an… -
Technology
Is Honor Device Co. Honourable Enough to Win Canada Over?
Four years after Canada shut Huawei out of its 5G networks, one of its former subsidiaries is hoping for a second chance in the Canadian market. Honor Device Co., a Chinese consumer electronics… -
Technology
Xanadu Quantum: the Frontier of Practical Quantum Computing
Quantum computers have long been promised to reshape the leading edge of computing technology, facilitating machines capable of completing operations unthinkably time-intensive for classical computers…