This Entrepreneur Raised $64 Million To Improve The Health Of Bees With Machine Learning

Having already started and sold two companies, Omer Davidi is now working on his biggest project yet. One that he believes will be responsible for most of the food production in the world.

On the Dealmakers Show, Davidi talked about launching and exiting multiple companies, managing distributed teams across six continents, raising tens of millions of dollars through a series B round, and creating a more fruitful and sustainable food system.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

Hands-On Learning

Omer Davidi was born in ‘Startup Nation’, Israel. A highly respected tech and startup hub, with a very diverse culture. 

It is a nation where you are thrown into mandatory military service relatively young. An environment where you are forced to learn a lot quickly, with significant consequences. You connect with many different people from different backgrounds, and in hard and challenging circumstances to accomplish the mission you are given. Along with being exposed to some of the most advanced technology in the world. 

As far back as he can remember Davidi says that he enjoyed taking things apart to figure out how they work. In just one day, to his mother’s dismay he managed to take apart four computers to investigate everything that was inside. 

Even before finishing high school he was able to begin working. Though quickly found himself starting companies of his own. 

From launch through exit Omer says that there is so much that you learn just by doing and being hands on. Many things that you just can’t learn in school. Or are at least very different in practice. 

However, once you’ve been through it, he says that you see what can be achieved. Then it is about having the right attitude, managing risks, bringing the right people that can support you in the areas that you don’t have enough strength or experience, and continuing to learn from your successes or failures.

The companies that Omer Davidi has started vary greatly. Rather than being stuck on one thing, he says that he enjoys looking at broken markets, where technology can make a big difference. Then he digs in, and lends his experience to understanding the problem, and potential solutions.

Timing

Omer started and managed to sell his first company in just about two years. His second company was also acquired in just about three years. 

Through his experiences Omer says that a lot of it is about timing. Sometimes it is the only difference between success and failure. 

This may be about the market being ready to accept your solution. Or it may be a matter of wars, global pandemic lockdowns, or financial and banking crises. 

He says that “if you have something you want to achieve, try to pursue it as fast as possible. You don’t know what the world is going to look like six months from now or four months from now.” So, go fast. At least you will quickly get some proof of your concept, and be able to nail your unit economics. Then you can decide to hand off the company to those who may be better suited to managing it over the long term, or you can move onto the next idea. 

In addition to timing, his top advice when starting a business today centers on focusing on the people that you walk with in the beginning. 

You want to find people that believe in what you are doing, who are positive, and will support you. Though he also says that he would also “focus a lot more on those that told me why that will not work. Those are the people that taught us the most and made us better.”

Bee Hero

Omer’s third venture didn’t work out exactly as he hoped, but it did lead him to meet one of his current cofounders, for his biggest project yet. 

Most of us have now heard of the dire situation of what has been happening with the collapse of bee colonies, as well as the pains of our food production system, and the need for more sustainability. Together they decided to see how technology can solve these problems. They talked to farmers, looked into the data, and evaluated why other companies in this space hadn’t been able to make it work, or make a difference in the past. 

Bee Hero found their sweet spot in focusing on pollination optimization. To utilize technology, to work with beekeepers to deal with their challenges and introduce different concepts of pollination to improve their results.

Today they are selling precision pollination as a service.

To date they’ve already raised around $64M, through a Series B. All with a distributed workforce of around 60 people, spread over six different time-zones. Something which he says is possible because of their shared passion and belief in what they are doing. 

Looking Forward And Vision For The Future

Looking forward, their vision is to have 100M bee hives around the world, which are responsible for most of the food production in the world. A significant part of making sure that we create a sustainable food production system.

Storytelling is everything which is something that Omer Davidi was able to master. Being able to capture the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides is the key. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here), where the most critical slides are highlighted.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

One that doesn’t require us depleting the resources that our children and grandchildren will need to grow their food and eat.

Listen in to the full podcast episode to find out more, including:

• Building a company on a remote workforce
• Convincing investors as you progress through different funding rounds
• Pollination technology

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