AirForestry
AirForestry develops autonomous electric multi-drone systems that perform aerial forest thinning for commercial forestry companies. Founded in 2020 in Uppsala, Sweden, it uses AI-powered computer vision and a proprietary 6.2m heavy-lift drone platform to harvest trees without ground contact.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersUppsala, Sweden
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What AirForestry does
AirForestry AB is a Swedish deep-technology company that develops and operates autonomous electric multi-drone systems for aerial forest thinning, targeting large commercial forestry enterprises in Europe. Founded in 2020 in Uppsala by Olle Gelin, Mauritz Andersson, and Caroline Walerud, the company performs precision tree harvesting as a managed service under long-term offtake agreements with major Nordic forest owners including Sveaskog (7-year agreement 2028–2035), Högtorps Gård, and Hargs Bruk, and has secured €1.8M (SEK 20M) in contracted pilot revenue through the Swedish AirForestry Pilot Project (SAPP) with Holmen, SCA, Stora Enso, and Sveaskog.
The company's core product is an integrated system comprising 6.2-meter diameter carbon-fiber heavy-lift electric drones, a purpose-built ~60kg harvesting tool, and a centralized Ground Control Station — all developed in-house. AI and computer vision capabilities autonomously identify and select trees for removal based on growth potential, with multiple drones operating simultaneously to perform full harvest cycles (navigation, tree identification, delimbing, felling, extraction) without human intervention or ground contact. The system operates in all-weather conditions (-20°C to +25°C, gusts up to 13 m/s, rain and snow), with operational benefits including zero soil compaction, no logging trails, and an estimated +8% additional forest growth per harvest cycle. In May 2026, AirForestry completed the world's first drone tree harvest in a real forest, marking the transition from controlled testing to production forestry conditions.
AirForestry's go-to-market is high-touch enterprise field sales focused on a small number of high-value commercial forestry customers through direct relationships and co-development partnerships. Revenue is generated through service contracts under offtake agreements (managed services), with the SAPP program representing the first contracted pilot revenue stream. The company has raised approximately €10.3M in seed funding led by Northzone (October 2024) plus SEK 28M (~€2.5M) in pre-Series A convertible financing (February 2026), and has secured ~€7.4M in non-dilutive government grants (€3M from the Swedish Energy Agency in 2023 and €4.4M from Vinnova in April 2026 for the PADA project). Recognition includes the World Economic Forum's Top Innovator for Forest Sustainability award and presentation at the 10th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference in June 2026.
AirForestry firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AirForestry
- Legal name
- AirForestry AB
- Website
- https://airforestry.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- AirForestry develops autonomous electric multi-drone systems that perform aerial forest thinning for commercial forestry companies. Founded in 2020 in Uppsala, Sweden, it uses AI-powered computer vision and a proprietary 6.2m heavy-lift drone platform to harvest trees without ground contact.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AirForestry industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Aerial Forest Thinning Services
- NAICS
- Aircraft Manufacturing (336411)
- SIC
- Aircraft & Parts (3720)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Drone/UAS Application Services (Spraying, Spreading, Seeding) (AFACAIAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Aerial Surveying & Crop Scouting (Imaging, Mapping, Stand Counts) (AFACAIAJ)
Keywords
Where AirForestry is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Uppsala
- HQ country
- Sweden
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
AirForestry business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Forest Thinning Services: AirForestry provides drone-based forest thinning as a service to commercial forest owners. Revenue is generated through service contracts with forestry companies (e.g., 7-year offtake agreement with Sveaskog from 2028–2035). The company operates a fleet of autonomous drones that perform thinning in customer forests, with the customer paying for the harvesting service. Early-stage commercial pilot revenue is being generated through the SAPP program (€1.8M contracted pilot revenue from four forestry companies).
- Technology Licensing and Platform Scaling: As the technology matures, AirForestry may expand to licensing its autonomous drone platform for precision forestry. The company's in-house developed hardware and software stack (drones, harvesting tools, ground control station, AI tree selection) represents a proprietary platform that could support licensing. Currently in development/proof-of-concept phase.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Swedish AirForestry Pilot Project (SAPP) — contracted pilot revenue |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels8 records
AirForestry product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AirForestry develops and operates an autonomous, electric multi-drone system that performs precision forest thinning from the air for commercial forestry companies. The integrated platform consists of 6.2-meter carbon-fiber heavy-lift drones, a ~60 kg purpose-built harvesting tool, and a Ground Control Station for fleet supervision; the drones autonomously navigate, identify and select trees via AI/computer vision, delimb, fell, extract and drop trees without touching the ground. Customers buy the thinning outcome under multi-year offtake agreements rather than the equipment itself.
Product overview
AirForestry offers an integrated aerial tree harvesting system consisting of three main components: autonomous heavy-lift electric drones (6.2m diameter), purpose-built harvesting tools (~60kg), and a Ground Control Station for fleet monitoring. The system performs precision forest thinning from the air without ground contact, eliminating soil compaction and root damage. All hardware and software is developed in-house. The drones work simultaneously as a fleet, with each unit capable of identifying, selecting, delimbing, felling, and extracting trees autonomously. The system is designed for scalability through multi-drone coordination and is marketed primarily to forest owners seeking sustainable thinning operations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Aerial Forest Thinning Service Managed drone-based precision forest thinning service delivered to commercial forest owners under multi-year offtake agreements. AirForestry operates its own autonomous multi-drone fleet to identify, delimb, fell and extract selected trees from the air, with no ground contact and no logging trails.
- Autonomous Electric Drone System for Aerial Forest Thinning Integrated multi-drone autonomous system for aerial forest thinning, comprising carbon-fiber heavy-lift drones (6.2 m diameter), a ~60 kg purpose-built harvesting tool, and a Ground Control Station for fleet supervision. All hardware and software developed in-house; supports future technology licensing opportunities.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 516 Mt additional carbon sequestered globally per year at full scale; 20 Mt CO2/year in Sweden alone
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use AirForestry
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
AirForestry technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
AirForestry partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered major and minor.
- SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)majorSLU participates in the Vinnova PADA project consortium with AirForestry, contributing academic research expertise in forestry, digitalization, and automation to the end-to-end forestry value chain project.
- Högtorps GårdminorHögtorps Gård signed an offtake agreement with AirForestry in 2023 as an early commercial partner, providing forest land for technology testing and validation.
- Hargs BrukminorHargs Bruk signed an offtake agreement with AirForestry in 2023 as an early commercial partner for drone-based thinning services.
- SkogforskmajorSkogforsk (The Forest Research Institute of Sweden) is a long-standing R&D partner. AirForestry's co-founder Olle Gelin led one of the world's largest forest automation projects (AUTO2) at Skogforsk. Skogforsk participates in the Vinnova PADA project consortium alongside AirForestry and other industry partners.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
AirForestry competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Komatsu Forest: Swedish-based forestry machinery division of Komatsu, producing forwarders and harvesters used by the same Nordic forest owners AirForestry serves. Comparable as the incumbent ground-based thinning solution provider against which AirForestry's aerial approach competes.
- Ponsse: Finnish manufacturer of cut-to-length forest harvesters and forwarders, deeply embedded with Nordic and European forest owners. Direct industry incumbent providing the ground-based thinning machinery that AirForestry's drone system is designed to replace.
- John Deere Forestry: Global forestry equipment manufacturer offering harvesters, forwarders, and feller-bunchers sold into commercial forestry operations. Represents a large, well-capitalized incumbent whose customer base overlaps with AirForestry's target market.
- DJI Agriculture: DJI's agriculture-focused drone business provides aerial spraying, mapping, and crop analytics for farms worldwide. Comparable as a dominant drone hardware and aerial-application platform whose capabilities could be extended toward forestry thinning and scouting.
- Logset: Finnish manufacturer of forestry harvesters and forwarders serving the Nordic and European forest owner market. Comparable as a specialized ground-based thinning machinery incumbent competing for the same procurement budgets as AirForestry.
Emerging players
- PrecisionHawk: Drone-based aerial analytics and surveying company serving agriculture, forestry, and infrastructure markets. Comparable as an early mover using UAS for forest/asset data collection, with adjacent (though not identical) autonomous flight and AI vision capabilities.
- Parrot (senseFly): Parrot-owned senseFly produces fixed-wing mapping drones used for forestry surveying, biomass estimation, and stand assessment. Comparable as a provider of aerial drone solutions to commercial forestry operators, with overlap on the AI-driven forest analytics dimension.
- DroneDeploy: Drone mapping and analytics platform used across construction, agriculture, and forestry for aerial survey, inspection, and AI-driven asset analysis. Comparable as a software/analytics layer over drone-collected imagery in forestry workflows adjacent to AirForestry's tree-identification system.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
AirForestry social profiles
Digital presenceAirForestry financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AirForestry leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
AirForestry funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors11 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
AirForestry 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 AirForestry
What does AirForestry do?
AirForestry develops and operates an autonomous, electric multi-drone system that performs precision forest thinning from the air for commercial forestry companies. The integrated platform consists of 6.2-meter carbon-fiber heavy-lift drones, a ~60 kg purpose-built harvesting tool, and a Ground Control Station for fleet supervision; the drones autonomously navigate, identify and select trees via AI/computer vision, delimb, fell, extract and drop trees without touching the ground. Customers buy the thinning outcome under multi-year offtake agreements rather than the equipment itself.
Is AirForestry a public or private company?
AirForestry is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was AirForestry founded?
AirForestry was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is AirForestry based?
AirForestry is headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, in the Europe region.
How does AirForestry make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Forest Thinning Services are the primary driver. The others are technology Licensing and Platform Scaling.
Who are AirForestry's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Komatsu Forest, Ponsse, John Deere Forestry, DJI Agriculture and Logset. Emerging players are PrecisionHawk, Parrot (senseFly) and DroneDeploy.
Does AirForestry have an API?
No public API is recorded for AirForestry.
What industry is AirForestry in?
AirForestry's product category is Aerial Forest Thinning Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFACAIAB, Drone/UAS Application Services (Spraying, Spreading, Seeding), with a secondary code of AFACAIAJ, Aerial Surveying & Crop Scouting (Imaging, Mapping, Stand Counts). Its NAICS code is 336411 and its SIC code is 3720.