The utilization of drones within the agriculture industry has been the biggest user for the past years. Drones are proven useful to monitor farms on livestock and crops health, precision farming to help farmers grow their farms efficiently, minimizing crop and food loss. Crop loss has driven the development of drones for agricultural sectors as addressed by Food and Agriculture Organization that the need to meet the global food demands rise significantly year by year which highlights the importance of maximizing crop yields to fulfill the future demands.

In Sweden, farming is seen to be a low-profitability industry. With sluggish growth and fierce competition from international players, the industry struggles to stay relevant in the market. A growing problem also arises from outside the fences of Swedish farms, LRF has estimated a yearly 2 billion SEK of wild animals-related crops loss in Sweden, representing an emerging challenge for the Swedish farm owner. This poses the need for long-term solutions that also continuously adapt to changes in the wild animals' behavior as animals can adapt to conventional repellants within 2-3 weeks.

Creating an affordable, adaptable, and convenient repellent could be the solution for the farmers to be in front of the line in mitigating this emerging challenge. That is why at Flox, we want to create a solution for farmers not only to mitigate crop loss but also to co-exist with the wildlife surrounding their farm, mutual protection for both the farms and the wildlife.

Wild Animals are Stakeholders too!

We believe that farming activities take place in a shared environment with other living beings. As arable land needs a conversion of the natural habitats of the wild animals, it puts them as the farm's stakeholders. Deriving from Edward Freeman's stakeholder theory, that everyone who is affecting and/or affected by the business is a stakeholder of the company. It is what we believe an ethical approach to view nature not as mere things to only be extracted but also to be preserved and co-exist with humanity. This is why our repelling solution not only is animal friendly, but also study their behavior, analyze them, and use the data we gathered to formulate a way of co-existing in this shared environment.

Accessible for all types of Farmers

Agricultural companies within the farming industry, like many other industries, would opt for initial investment that offers optimal value suitable for their needs while giving as minimal risks as possible. Especially for small to midsize farms that have restricted resources to make large investments. Flox wanted to give them opportunities for these farmers to utilize this technology through a subscription-based model of field protection, so farmers do not need to commit through a large initial investment.

Beyond farming industry

We started locally in Sweden through the farming industry, helping one farmer at a time. However, the potential for autonomous drones is huge! Through our research, we have found emerging markets for animal monitoring and repelling in other industries as well such as leisure sports, public sectors, wildlife conservatory, insurance, and governments. This is just the beginning of our mission to bring this technology to a wider audience, together we can make autonomous drone technology accessible for every industry!

Kiuas Ax'21 questions

‍

Who inspired you to be an entrepreneur? 
Elon Musk 🚀

If you would get 10 billion euros right now, what would you do?
caled the company to ensure a new way of coexistence with wildlife world-wide. 🐐🐆🐃🐂

Who is your favorite superhero?
I don’t have one ..

If you could change just one thing in the world, what would it be?
I would have reversed climate change.

Main course at dinner, choose: a) Monkey brains with devils sauce and baby vegetables, b) lab grown steak from human cells and béarnaise with crispy fries, c) Organically grown Nepenthes Truncata salad, including tomatoes, sweet blue peppers and glowing mushrooms with a small chance to kill you instantly.
Organically grown Nepenthes Truncata salad, including tomatoes, sweet blue peppers and glowing mushrooms with a small chance to kill you instantly.