The buzz around the next generation of agritech

All my friends told me, “You are crazy, Bogdan! Bees? Come on!” They said, “You are a naughty guy.” They asked me, “Do you know what to do with the bees?” I said no, but I’m willing to learn. My name is Bogdan, I’m the founder of Apiary Book, an agritech startup. We are in love with the bees because bees are beautiful creatures, working hard and supporting each other. We take honey from the bees, but we also want to give something back to them as a community. I like to take photos in big cities like Bucharest. I started this hobby 15 years ago. I took a lot of pictures and realized that the city is growing. Also, the startup ecosystem is growing and growing each year.

I’m Iridom Godfield, the Chief Executive of Invest Europe, the trade association representing private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure across Europe. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in Europe. Private equity and venture capital are supporting 1.2 million jobs across Europe. What I find amazing is that when you’re investing in a company, you’re actually investing in a team and the people you meet.

I graduated in computer science 25 years ago. I worked a lot in the software development industry. Seven years ago, I decided to spend more time in nature. I bought my first hives and started my beekeeping journey. It is important to track your activities in the apiary. Some beekeepers put rocks on the beehives that have problems; some use permanent ink and write directly on the beehive. If you use an application like Apiary Book, you can record everything and organize better.

Yes, when we saw Bogdan’s application, we immediately loved the product. My name is Christina Tonko, I’m cofounder of the accelerator dedicated to mentoring early-stage startups to increase their knowledge and business development. We are in partnership with Skipminder and Vendor Gardner, who are investing in them.

I’m Dan Michelsko, the founding partner of Get Mind Adventures. We met Bogdan in 2018 through contests that we ran for more than 120 companies. We saw very early that Apiary Book had the potential to become the largest community of beekeepers. There are now more than 220,000 beekeepers on the platform. In the latest round, we received 200,000 euros. The money allowed us to hire more people and increase our marketing and sales.

Since we have given the world our first unicorns, venture capital funds are looking with much more interest towards Romania and the region. The European Investment Fund helped kick off the startup and VC ecosystem in Romania, which is now on its way to becoming the Silicon Valley of Central Europe. We are very optimistic that we will have more and more success stories coming from this part of Europe.

We have big plans. We want to increase the team from 7 to 20. We want to launch Apiary Academy. I am teaching my son how to handle the bees because we need to prepare the new generations to carry on this activity.

Investing in businesses that have a local footprint helps a number of people earn their livelihood while staying where they live. We are actually helping them develop the best possible strategy for sustainability and, in that respect, helping them create jobs. Apiary Book can provide fantastic support for beekeepers to meet this important goal for humankind.