FarmSense
FarmSense is an agtech company that builds AI-powered FlightSensor optical devices and a cloud dashboard for real-time insect monitoring, serving California commercial nut and fruit growers, row-crop farmers, and government public-health agencies conducting vector surveillance.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersRiverside, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What FarmSense does
FarmSense is a privately held agricultural-technology company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Riverside, California. It builds AI-powered insect monitoring systems for commercial agriculture and adjacent public-health applications. The company's core product is FlightSensor, a patented optical sensor using light-curtain technology to detect, count, and classify flying insects in real time via proprietary wingbeat-pattern ("FlightPrint") analysis. Hardware devices are deployed in fields and transmit structured time-series data—including insect counts, species classifications, humidity, and temperature—over cellular IoT connections to a cloud-based dashboard that runs ML models refining per-field pest predictions with each new data point.
FarmSense monetizes through a hardware-plus-subscription model. FlightSensor devices are sold alongside subscription monitoring plans priced at $29.95 per device per month or $299 per device per year, with volume discounts and custom enterprise tiers available for deployments of 500+ devices. The go-to-market combines enterprise field sales (demos, free trials) with self-serve online subscription management. Customer segments include California commercial nut growers (almonds, walnuts), fruit and row-crop farmers, and government/public-health agencies for mosquito surveillance. Documented deployments span roughly 150 orchards in California with 10,000+ insect instances monitored in a single season, and a case study demonstrated a 70% reduction in pesticide use (from 12 applications to 3) while maintaining yield.
The company was co-founded by Dr. Eamonn Keogh (distinguished professor, CSO), Dr. Shailendra Singh (CTO), and Dr. Leslie Hickle (CEO), and has accumulated approximately $10 million+ across academic research grants (Gates Foundation, NSF, Vodafone), SBIR awards ($2.2M biosecurity; $275K mosquito surveillance), and a $750,000 Radicle Inclusion Challenge prize, plus a $1.7M round in 2025. Leadership and technology have been recognized by ACM SIGKDD, IEEE ICDM, Bayer Grants4Tech, Saudi Arabia's National Center for Palms & Dates, and Science Foundation Ireland, though the company remains at an early commercial stage with 1–10 employees and undisclosed revenue.
FarmSense firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- FarmSense
- Legal name
- FarmSense, Inc.
- Website
- https://farmsense.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- FarmSense is an agtech company that builds AI-powered FlightSensor optical devices and a cloud dashboard for real-time insect monitoring, serving California commercial nut and fruit growers, row-crop farmers, and government public-health agencies conducting vector surveillance.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
FarmSense industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Agricultural pest monitoring and precision agriculture sensors
- NAICS
- Agricultural Implement Manufacturing (33311)
- SIC
- Farm Machinery & Equipment (3523)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Aerial Surveying & Crop Scouting (Imaging, Mapping, Stand Counts) (AFACAIAJ)
Keywords
Where FarmSense is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Riverside
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
FarmSense business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- FlightSensor Hardware Sales: FarmSense sells its FlightSensor monitoring devices with associated hardware including solar panels, mounting brackets, and accessories. The hardware is required to access the monitoring service.
- SaaS Monitoring Subscription: Recurring subscription model for access to the FlightSensor monitoring platform, real-time insect data, dashboard analytics, degree day models, pest pressure forecasts, data export, and email/phone support. Offered at $29.95/device/month or $299/device/year with volume discounts for 1-500+ devices.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Yearly subscription at $299/device/yr, saving $60.40/yr vs monthly |
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly subscription at $29.95/device/mo, billed monthly |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise/Custom - Volume pricing for 500+ devices or custom plans |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
FarmSense product offering
Product offeringCore offering
FarmSense designs, manufactures, and sells FlightSensor, an in-field optical device that detects, counts, and classifies flying insects in real time using proprietary AI/ML. The hardware is sold to commercial agriculture operators and public-health agencies and is paired with a SaaS subscription that delivers species-level monitoring dashboards, alerts, and aggregated FlightPrint data to replace manual sticky-trap scouting.
Product overview
FarmSense offers a unified smart pest monitoring platform centered on its patented FlightSensor hardware device and cloud-based analytics platform. The core product is the FlightSensor, a real-time insect monitoring system that detects and classifies pests using AI-powered wingbeat pattern analysis. This sensor hardware is sold alongside a subscription-based monitoring service (FlightSensor Monitoring Plans) that provides access to the FarmSense Dashboard, which delivers real-time analytics, degree day models, pest pressure forecasts, and data export capabilities. An additional sub-product, the Digital Mosquito Surveillance Platform, extends the technology for public health vector control applications. The company also offers a free trial (1 year, 1 sensor) for new customers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- FlightSensor Patented in-field optical insect monitoring device that detects, counts, and classifies flying insects in real time using onboard AI/ML, sold to commercial agriculture operations and public-health agencies to replace manual sticky-trap scouting.
Quantifiable outcome
- 70% reduction in pesticide use while maintaining crop yield
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use FarmSense
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
FarmSense technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature7 records
FarmSense partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)coreFarmSense awarded $275,000 SBIR funding to develop a digital mosquito surveillance platform supporting CDC's vector control initiatives. Project aims to improve mosquito monitoring, reduce pesticide use, and support public health initiatives, especially in light of recent malaria cases in the US.
- University of California RiversidecoreHome institution of co-founders Dr. Eamonn Keogh and Dr. Leslie Hickle. Academic collaboration for research and development. Dr. Mark Hoddle, field entomologist at UCR, is an early customer and advisor.
- University of California DavisminorAcademic partnership for research and development in agricultural technology and pest management.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
FarmSense competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Semios: Semios provides IoT-based pest and disease management solutions for orchards and vineyards, using sensors, predictive analytics, and a software platform to optimize crop protection. It is the closest direct competitor to FarmSense in targeting the tree-nut and fruit grower market with automated pest monitoring, though at a larger scale and with broader geographic reach.
- Taranis: Taranis is an AI-powered crop intelligence platform that combines aerial imagery, field sensors, and machine learning to detect pests, diseases, and nutrient issues at field scale. While Taranis emphasizes aerial imaging, it overlaps with FarmSense on real-time pest detection for commercial agriculture and competes for similar enterprise grower accounts.
- Aerobotics: Aerobotics provides tree-crop monitoring using drones, satellites, and AI analytics, with a strong focus on pest and disease detection in orchards and vineyards. It serves the same commercial nut and fruit grower customer base as FarmSense, with comparable AI-driven pest classification capabilities though a different data-capture modality.
- Sentera: Sentera builds sensors, analytics, and agronomic tools for crop monitoring, including pest scouting and field analytics for specialty crop growers. It addresses similar agricultural decision-support use cases as FarmSense with a focus on sensors and analytics, competing for the same enterprise farm operations.
- Pessl Instruments (METOS): Pessl Instruments manufactures agricultural IoT hardware including weather stations, soil sensors, and pest monitoring devices under the METOS brand, sold globally with subscription software. It is a direct peer in combining hardware sensors with SaaS-style pest and crop monitoring subscriptions for commercial growers.
Emerging players
- Arable: Arable builds integrated agricultural sensing devices that combine weather, crop, and environmental data with analytics for precision agriculture decisions. It overlaps with FarmSense on field-level IoT sensing and subscription analytics, though it focuses more on crop climate and water management than pest-specific monitoring.
- CropX: CropX provides soil and crop sensing IoT devices with a cloud analytics platform for irrigation, fertility, and crop health management. It competes in the broader agricultural IoT subscription market but focuses more on soil-centric decisions than the pest-monitoring niche where FarmSense operates.
- PrecisionHawk: PrecisionHawk provides drone-based aerial analytics and data services for agriculture, including crop scouting and field assessment. It overlaps with FarmSense on field-level agricultural monitoring and analytics, but uses drone-based data capture rather than ground-deployed optical insect sensors.
Broad incumbents
- Climate LLC (Bayer FieldView): Climate LLC is Bayer's precision agriculture platform (FieldView), offering satellite imagery, field data management, and agronomic analytics at enterprise scale. It is a broad incumbent that touches pest and crop monitoring as part of a wider portfolio but does not specialize in the real-time insect classification niche that FarmSense addresses.
- DTN: DTN is a large agricultural weather, market intelligence, and operational data platform serving farmers, agribusinesses, and commodity traders. It competes indirectly with FarmSense as part of the broader agricultural data and decision-support ecosystem, though its pest monitoring capabilities are more limited than FarmSense's specialty focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
FarmSense social profiles
Digital presenceFarmSense financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
FarmSense leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
FarmSense funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds8 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
FarmSense M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about FarmSense
What does FarmSense do?
FarmSense designs, manufactures, and sells FlightSensor, an in-field optical device that detects, counts, and classifies flying insects in real time using proprietary AI/ML. The hardware is sold to commercial agriculture operators and public-health agencies and is paired with a SaaS subscription that delivers species-level monitoring dashboards, alerts, and aggregated FlightPrint data to replace manual sticky-trap scouting.
Is FarmSense a public or private company?
FarmSense is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was FarmSense founded?
FarmSense was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is FarmSense based?
FarmSense is headquartered in Riverside, United States, in the North America region.
How does FarmSense make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. FlightSensor Hardware Sales are the primary driver. The others are saaS Monitoring Subscription.
Who are FarmSense's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Semios, Taranis, Aerobotics, Sentera and Pessl Instruments (METOS). Emerging players are Arable, CropX and PrecisionHawk. Broad incumbents are Climate LLC (Bayer FieldView) and DTN.
Does FarmSense have an API?
No public API is recorded for FarmSense.
What industry is FarmSense in?
FarmSense's product category is Agricultural pest monitoring and precision agriculture sensors. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFACAIAJ, Aerial Surveying & Crop Scouting (Imaging, Mapping, Stand Counts). Its NAICS code is 33311 and its SIC code is 3523.