What Wilder Sensing does

Wilder Sensing is a UK-based nature technology company that uses artificial intelligence to quantify biodiversity changes through bioacoustic monitoring. Founded in 2021-2022 by Geoff Carss and formally launched at Windsor Castle in March 2022, the company provides a cloud-based SaaS platform that processes audio recordings from passive acoustic monitors to automatically identify bird, bat, and moth species, delivering species-level detections with confidence scores through an interactive dashboard with exportable reports. Its core technology stack combines BirdNET from the Cornell Lab for international bird detection, proprietary models with human-in-the-loop validation for UK bat species (aligned with BCT guidelines), and an in-development image-based pipeline for moths, all wrapped in an ecological filtering layer that accounts for species location probability and seasonality.

The platform is sold across four product lines: BirdSense (international bird coverage), BatSense (UK-only with expert validation, 2-4 week turnaround), MothSense (UK, image-based nocturnal insect monitoring), and WildSense (multi-taxa bundle piloting Spring 2026). Revenue is generated primarily through annual per-recorder SaaS subscriptions, bundled hardware sales or hire of Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter devices, professional services for training and consulting, and usage-based fees for retrieval of archived data beyond a 60-day live window. Pricing is bespoke and quote-based.

Wilder Sensing sells direct to enterprise customers through its website and consultative scoping calls, and indirectly through ecological consultancy channel partners (Ecosulis, RSK Biocensus, Ethos Environmental Planning) who embed the platform within their service offerings. Target customer segments span ecological consultancies, conservation NGOs and trusts, renewable energy developers (wind, solar, biogas), farming and land management operations, utility and infrastructure operators, and emerging verticals including extractives, real estate, and finance. The company was featured on BBC Springwatch in 2024 and 2025, completed the Oxford Creative Destruction Lab accelerator, and is currently participating in Bright Tide's Sustain.AI cohort. It raised a £700,000 pre-seed round in December 2024 led by the South West Investment Fund (The FSE Group) with Oxford Innovation Finance and Cambridge Angels.

Name

Wilder Sensing

Legal name

Wilder Sensing Ltd

Website

https://wildersensing.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wilder Sensing is a UK-based nature technology company providing AI-powered bioacoustic biodiversity monitoring SaaS. It serves ecological consultants, conservation NGOs, renewable energy developers, and land managers with automated species identification across birds, bats, and moths.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Biodiversity Monitoring Software

akta.pro primary industry

Wildlife Surveys & Movement/Connectivity Studies (e.g., Avian/Bat, Telemetry) (EUAHAHAH)

Keywords

• Bioacoustic monitoring
• Biodiversity monitoring software
• Species identification AI
• Passive acoustic recording
• Ecological survey technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Wedmore

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription - Per Recorder: Annual subscription fee per audio recorder enabling unlimited audio file uploads. Standard term is 1 year. Recorder may be swapped during subscription due to damage. Subscription includes access to web platform, AI analysis, dashboards, and support. Alternative recording parameters may incur additional fees.
2. Hardware Sales and Hire: Sale or rental of passive acoustic recording devices including Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter Mini and Song Meter Micro. Available as purchase or hire options bundled with software subscription.
3. Professional Services: Additional services including training, consulting, technical support beyond standard offering. Billed at hourly rates or via separate statement of work. Includes optional third-party audio file validation service for specialized verification.
4. Archived Data Retrieval: After 2 months from upload, data transitions to archive storage. Retrieval of archived data for re-processing incurs additional fees based on data volume requested. Minimum 7-day notice for retrieval.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Wilder Sensing operates a cloud-based SaaS platform that uses AI and bioacoustics to identify bird, bat, and moth species from passive acoustic recordings and image captures. Customers upload recordings through the portal and the platform returns species-level detections with confidence scores, interactive dashboards, and exportable reports. Subscriptions are priced per audio recorder on an annual basis, with optional hardware bundles, professional services, and pay-as-you-go archived data retrieval as supplementary revenue streams.

Product overview

Wilder Sensing is a SaaS biodiversity monitoring platform offering three distinct services: BirdSense (bioacoustic bird monitoring internationally, powered by BirdNET AI), BatSense (bioacoustic bat monitoring in the UK with human expert validation), and MothSense (image-based nocturnal insect monitoring using proprietary UV light traps and AI). These can be subscribed to individually or bundled as WildSense for multi-taxa monitoring at a single site. The unified platform enables survey design, sensor deployment, automated AI species identification, interactive dashboards, and data export—providing end-to-end biodiversity intelligence from field recording to auditable species-level records.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BirdSense: Bioacoustic monitoring of bird species with international coverage, underpinned by BirdNET (Cornell Lab).
• BatSense
• MothSense
• WildSense

Products and services

• BirdSense Bioacoustic monitoring service for automated bird species identification from audio recordings, underpinned by BirdNET (Cornell Lab) with international coverage. Provides rapid dashboard visualisation within 48 hours of upload, raw audio auditability, and supports both software-only and hardware bundle options.
• BatSense Bioacoustic bat monitoring service with human-in-the-loop validation by a bat specialist. Provides a validated species list after AI detection audit, with data analysis methodology based on BCT (Bat Conservation Trust) Guidelines. Typical turnaround 2-4 weeks from data upload; UK coverage.
• MothSense Image-based monitoring service for nocturnal insects using proprietary hardware. UV light attracts moths to a base plate where a photo is captured every 2 minutes and AI image analysis provides automated species identification. UK coverage; currently in development with early access available.
• Passive Acoustic Recorders (Hardware) Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter Mini and Song Meter Micro passive acoustic recording devices available for purchase or hire, bundled with software subscriptions. Universal recorder compatibility also supports customers using their own compatible devices.
• Professional Services Training, consulting, and technical support beyond the standard subscription offering. Billed at hourly rates or via a separate statement of work. Optional third-party audio file validation service available at additional cost.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20% more species identified than manual ecological field surveys in the UK
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SetSquared BristolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of Bristol technology incubator programme. Provided entrepreneurship support, mentorship from Entrepreneurs in Residence, and business development assistance. Joined in January 2023 to help scale the business.
• Creative Destruction Lab (Oxford University)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal startup accelerator at Oxford University. Wilder Sensing was one of 20 climate-related technology startups accepted. Graduated after 8 months of mentorship, investor readiness support, and 'Dragon's Den' style pitch sessions.
• Sustain.AI Accelerator (Bright Tide)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAI sustainability accelerator cohort. Wilder Sensing is one of ten startups leveraging AI for sustainability challenges. Supported by Barclays, Axa XL, Hogan Lovells, University of Plymouth, Ecosulis. Event held at House of Lords.
• EcosuliscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEcological consultancy specializing in landscape-scale habitat restoration. Partnered on River Adur Recovery project with Knepp Wildland Foundation. Deploys Wilder Sensing for bird monitoring on restoration projects. Joint webinar delivery on bioacoustic surveys.
• Wildlife AcousticscoreTechnology or IntegrationManufacturer of Song Meter passive acoustic recorders. Partnership enables compatible hardware integration with Wilder Sensing platform. Joint webinar delivery and marketing. Recorder purchase/hire available through Wilder Sensing.
• The Biological Recording CompanycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership delivering bioacoustic webinar series. Joint marketing, content creation, and educational outreach. Series covers survey design, data interpretation, and practical applications for ecological consultants and conservation organizations.
• NHBSminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWildlife equipment supplier and retailer. Webinar co-sponsor and marketing partner. NHBS distributes wildlife monitoring equipment including recorders compatible with Wilder Sensing platform.
• EthosVO (Ethos Wilder)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial and environmental incubator. Instrumental in launching Wilder Sensing, including launch event at Windsor Castle in March 2022. Provided young leaders network access, mentorship, and introductions.
• Knepp Wildland FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading rewilding organization in the UK. Commissioned Ecosulis for River Adur Recovery project with Wilder Sensing as bioacoustic monitoring partner. Demonstrates rewilding outcomes through biodiversity data.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Planet Labs: Satellite-imagery-based environmental intelligence provider with biodiversity and nature-related analytics. Competes for the same corporate ESG, regulatory, and conservation budgets but at a much larger scale and from a remote-sensing angle rather than in-situ acoustic monitoring.
• EarthRanger: Conservation area management software used by NGOs, reserves, and protected-area managers. Adjacent rather than direct — EarthRanger focuses on ranger patrols, sensor integration, and incident management, but competes for the same NGO/conservation budget allocated for monitoring.
• iNaturalist: Global citizen-science biodiversity data platform. While not a B2B ecological monitoring tool, it shapes customer expectations around species identification and represents a free alternative for lower-fidelity use cases, particularly in NGO and education segments.

Direct peers

• Wildlife Acoustics: Manufacturer of the Song Meter Mini and Song Meter Micro recorders that Wilder Sensing bundles, and a direct competitor through its Kaleidoscope Pro analysis software. Both serve the same ecological survey workflow — recording, species ID, and reporting — with overlapping customer bases.
• Rainforest Connection: Operates the Arbimon bioacoustic monitoring platform for biodiversity and conservation use cases. Closely comparable to Wilder Sensing's BirdSense/BatSense — cloud-based AI analysis of audio recordings for species identification across global deployments.
• NatureMetrics: UK-based biodiversity monitoring business using eDNA and environmental DNA analytics for ecological surveys. Comparable go-to-market across ecological consultancies, NGOs, and corporates reporting against TNFD/CSRD, with a similarly enterprise-led, subscription-style model.

Emerging players

• Conservation AI: AI-for-conservation platform applying computer vision and acoustic models to species detection. Targets overlapping customer problems — biodiversity monitoring and wildlife survey automation — but with broader species scope and an earlier commercial footprint.
• Open Acoustic Devices (AudioMoth): University of Oxford / Kemp spin-out producing the open-source AudioMoth acoustic recorder used widely in bioacoustic research. Competes with Wildlife Acoustics at the hardware layer and offers a low-cost, open-source alternative that researchers and NGOs may pair with their own analysis software instead of Wilder Sensing.
• Map of Life: Biodiversity data and species distribution platform integrating global occurrence records. Adjacent — provides modelled species ranges and habitat data that complements field surveys, and overlaps with the ecological filtering Wilder Sensing performs on detections.

Others

• NHBS (Natural History Book Service): UK wildlife equipment supplier and reseller of bioacoustic recorders, including devices compatible with Wilder Sensing. Functions as a channel partner and competitor for recorder hardware sales, distributing into the same ecological consultancy customer base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wildersensing

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wilder Sensing