Exclusive: VCs back Flox to scale AI wildlife tech in US
A new group of impact VCs have invested in Flox as the Swedish AI wildlife-tech company expands into the US.<br><br>The new lead investor “has a strong focus on biodiversity,” Sára Nožková, Flox's CEO, tells Impact Loop.
A group of European impact investors has backed Swedish wildlife-tech company Flox Intelligence in a new $3m funding round, signalling continued appetite for nature tech.
The round is led by Czech investor Tilia Impact Ventures, with participation from Luxembourg-based climate tech VC Satgana, US investor Genius NY and German family office J.O.S.S. Existing backers Unconventional Ventures and Almi Invest also followed on.
Flox, which uses AI to deter wild animals from high-risk environments such as airports, said it was particularly selective about its new partners.
“We were particularly drawn to Tilia because it is an Article 9 fund and its partners are strongly focused on biodiversity – which is entirely aligned with what we look for in investors,” CEO Sára Nožková said in an email to Impact Loop.
According to the company, wildlife collisions cost between $1bn and $1.5bn annually, a problem Flox is aiming to tackle with its AI-powered system, Flox Edge. The technology has already been tested at airports in the United States.
Swedish company, US customers
Founded in 2020 in a research lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Flox recently relocated its commercial headquarters to the US. Nožková is now based there, but the company's R&D centre remains in Stockholm.
A full relocation to the US is not currently planned.
“Our commercial team is based in the US and we are growing here with around five employees, but we are keeping our R&D team in Stockholm and continuing to expand there as well. It’s a model that works very well for us,” Nožková says.
The fresh capital will be used to expand further in the US market and to deliver pre-ordered Edge units to customers. Flox now has around 50 customers, according to Nožková.
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