Analysis
BloomX, an Israeli agtech company, raised a $13 million Series A led by Elah Fund to expand its robotic pollination systems into new markets and crops, the company said, per Pulse 2.0. The round brings total funding since BloomX's 2019 founding to $20 million.
Participants included Rothschild Fund, Sadot Innovation, Tene Fund, OurCrowd, BioBee, Gidulei Sade Dagan, Mishkey Hevel Aza Group, Kibbutz Eyal, Horashim, Magal, Kfar Glikson, the Israel Innovation Authority and private investors -- a large syndicate for a $13 million round, spreading a modest check across more than a dozen backers rather than concentrating it with one or two.
BloomX, founded by CEO Thai Sade, CTO Avi Keren and VP of Software Development Ido Senesh, builds biomimetic pollination systems that combine robotics with AI algorithms to work alongside natural pollinators rather than replace them. Its Robee system uses controlled vibrations to mimic bumblebee buzz pollination for blueberries, while Yahav 2400, commercialized this year for avocados, uses high-voltage electrodes to create an electric field that moves pollen onto a textile collector. The company sells both through a Pollination-as-a-Service model, letting growers avoid the upfront equipment cost.
“The company sells both through a Pollination-as-a-Service model, letting growers avoid the upfront equipment cost.”
The numbers are grower-reported, not audited
BloomX cites yield increases of about 20% and returns on investment up to 10.5x among customers including ACP and Fruitist in Peru, Allesbeste in South Africa and the Granot Group in Israel, with one operator able to cover up to 3.5 hectares a day. Those figures come from the company and its customers, not from an independent agronomic study, and BloomX has not disclosed how many growers are running the systems at scale versus in pilot.
With the new capital, BloomX plans to deepen its presence in Peru, Mexico, South Africa and Israel, add more Latin American markets and crops, and prepare its first US entry -- targeting almonds and blueberries. The US almond industry already runs a mature commercial beekeeping supply chain with established pricing, which makes BloomX's pitch there a harder sell than in markets with less developed pollination infrastructure. The company's own announcement names no direct competitor, positioning itself as complementary to bees rather than competing with another pollination-robotics vendor.