The Best Bees Company

What The Best Bees Company does

The Best Bees Company is a data-driven professional beekeeping service founded in 2010 in Boston by Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D. The company installs and manages beehives on residential and commercial properties across 21 US regions, employing approximately 60 locally-based professional beekeepers who perform monthly hive maintenance, honey harvesting, and standardized health data collection. Its underlying technology stack centers on the proprietary Bzzz Hive Health Program (visit-by-visit monitoring of colony size, pathogens, and biodiversity metrics), the HoneyDNA environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding service that sequences genetic material in honey samples to identify plant species and pollinator foraging patterns, and what the company describes as the world's largest standardized bee health database with over 2 million data points. The technology is used to generate ESG reports, LEED documentation, and biodiversity baselines for corporate clients.

The company operates a subscription-based business model with annual contracts. Residential services range from $2,550/year (1 hive) to $5,725/year (3 hives), while corporate services start at $6,900/year for 4-hive packages and scale via custom quotes for 6+ hive deployments. Additional revenue streams include an e-commerce storefront selling beeswax candles, lip balm, honey soap, and branded merchandise, a $99 self-paced Intro to Pollinators & Biodiversity online course with certificate, custom-painted beehives with logo and copper-roof options, and standalone HoneyDNA analysis kits priced at $475-$500. The company discloses a revenue allocation of approximately 70% to beekeeper and team salaries, 27% to hive-care operating costs, and 3% to marketing and sales.

The go-to-market combines enterprise field sales targeting commercial real estate (CBRE, JLL, Hines, Boston Properties, Cushman & Wakefield, Beacon Capital, Kilroy Realty), hospitality (Four Seasons, Marriott, Fairmont, Sheraton, 1 Hotel), financial services (JPMorgan Chase, MetLife), retail (New Balance, Whole Foods, L'Oreal), education (Harvard, MIT, Berkeley Haas, Boston College, Simmons), insurance (Beazley), and utilities (National Grid) with direct-to-consumer residential bookings via the website. Distribution is delivered through regional offices in Boston, NYC, DC, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego, with services operated within a ~90-minute beekeeper radius of each city center. The company is an NGLCC-certified LGBTQ-owned and women-led business with a disclosed 2:1 executive-to-entry-level wage ratio.

Name

The Best Bees Company

Legal name

The Best Bees Company

Website

https://bestbees.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Best Bees Company is a Boston-founded professional beekeeping service that installs and manages hives on residential and commercial properties across 21 US regions, offering proprietary HoneyDNA eDNA analysis and ESG/biodiversity reporting to enterprise clients in commercial real estate, hospitality, and financial services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Beekeeping Services

NAICS

Apiculture (112910)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Apiary Management Services (Contract Beekeeping, Hive Maintenance) (AFAEAHAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Honey Production & Extraction (AFAEAHAA), Beekeeping Equipment Manufacturing & Supply (Hives, Frames, Tools, PPE) (AFAEAHAI), Bee Health Management & Treatments (Mite/Disease Control Products & Services) (AFAEAHAK)

Keywords

• Professional beekeeping services
• Urban beekeeping management
• Corporate biodiversity programs
• Hive health monitoring
• Pollinator habitat services

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Residential Beekeeping Services: Annual subscription service for homeowners providing turnkey beekeeping including hive installation, monthly maintenance, honey harvesting, and data reporting. Priced per hive with annual billing.
2. Corporate Biodiversity Services: Annual subscription for commercial properties with multi-hive installations, monthly management, ESG reporting, and tenant engagement programming. Pricing scales with hive count.
3. Product Sales: E-commerce sales of honey & beeswax products (candles, lip balm, soap), educational materials, branded merchandise, and specialty reports like HoneyDNA analysis.
4. Educational Courses: Online course 'Intro to Pollinators & Biodiversity' sold for $99, providing self-paced learning modules and certificate of completion.
5. Custom Equipment: Custom beehive design services including painted hives, logo applications, copper roofs, offering customization options for brand alignment.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Best Bees Company installs and professionally manages beehives on residential and commercial properties, delivering turnkey hive installation, monthly maintenance, honey harvesting, hive health monitoring, and biodiversity data collection. Service is differentiated by proprietary HoneyDNA eDNA metabarcoding analysis that identifies plant species visited by bees and powers ESG/biodiversity reporting for corporate clients. Operations span 21 US regions supported by ~60 locally employed professional beekeepers.

Product overview

The Best Bees Company offers a unified professional beekeeping service platform with core residential and corporate beekeeping offerings augmented by specialized add-on modules. The core service comprises hive installation, monthly maintenance, honey harvesting, and research data collection. Key add-on modules include HoneyDNA (DNA analysis of honey samples), Custom Beehives (branded/painted equipment), the Intro to Pollinators & Biodiversity Online Course, and Pollinator Gardens. The company also operates a retail product line featuring beeswax candles, honey soap, lip balm, wildflower seeds, branded merchandise, and educational books. Services are delivered through a network of 21 operating regions across the United States with pricing starting at $212/month for residential and $6,900/year for corporate programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HoneyDNA™: DNA analysis service that sequences genetic material in honey samples to identify plant species visited by bees, using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding technology.

Products and services

• Corporate Beekeeping Services Annual subscription service for commercial real estate, hospitality, financial services, and corporate campuses providing multi-hive installation, monthly professional management, hive health reports, ESG/biodiversity reporting, honey harvesting, tenant events, and LEED certification support. Pricing is quote-based for 6+ hives.
• Residential Beekeeping Services Turnkey backyard beekeeping subscription for homeowners including hive installation, Italian honey bees, monthly maintenance, disease monitoring, honey harvesting with a 5 lbs/hive/year Honey Guarantee, full insurance, and DNA-based pollinator diet analysis. Priced per hive with annual billing (1-3 hive tiers).
• Custom Beehive Design Standalone custom beehive design service offering painted hives with optional logos, custom colors, accent borders, and copper roofs to align hives with corporate brand aesthetics. Available for both corporate and residential clients as an add-on or standalone design service.
• HoneyDNA Analysis Standalone eDNA metabarcoding service for one-time purchase ($475-$500) where customers send a honey sample and receive a report identifying plant species pollinated, including native and invasive species and relative abundance, enabling environmental baseline and biodiversity tracking.
• Intro to Pollinators & Biodiversity Online Course Self-paced online educational course ($99) with 7 modules, a hands-on capstone project, and certificate of completion, teaching beginners about bees, pollinators, and biodiversity.
• Beeswax Candles (10 pack) Handmade all-natural beeswax candles sold in 10-packs ($180) produced in partnership with Hon's Honey nonprofit that employs women survivors of trauma.
• Honey Soap (10 pack) Handcrafted soap made with local raw honey and natural clays in honey and lemongrass scent, sold in 10-packs.
• Beeswax Lip Balm (10 pack) Handcrafted beeswax lip balm with coconut oil, jojoba oil, shea butter, and essential oils, sold in 10-packs ($90) and produced in partnership with Hon's Honey nonprofit.
• Native Wildflower Seed Packets (10 count) Wildflower seed packets ($60 for 10-count) containing plants native to specific US ecoregions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Western, Pacific Northwest, Southwest) to support pollinator habitats.
• The Bee: A Natural History (book) Paperback book ($32.50) authored by founder Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D. and published by Princeton University Press, covering bee natural history, pollination importance, and threats to bee populations.
• Residential Garden Sign 7" x 10" metal yard sign on 18" stake ($75) promoting data-yielding beehives and pollinator research contributions for residential customers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hives contribute to LEED point credits and green building certifications
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers29 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Beacon Capital PartnersflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Long-term partnership starting with test sites in Boston and Cambridge in 2014. Expanded nationally after successful pilot. Beacon Capital uses beekeeping as cornerstone of investment philosophy.
• NASAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership for bee health studies and environmental monitoring data sharing. NASA uses Best Bees data for environmental research purposes.
• MITcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partnership with MIT Media Lab for bee health data analysis and scientific collaboration.
• HarvardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partnership for pollinator health studies and data sharing with Harvard researchers.
• National GeographiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch and editorial partnership for pollinator health awareness and scientific content collaboration.
• Urban Bee LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated nonprofit research organization. HoneyDNA results shared with Urban Bee Lab for global mapping and biomonitoring research. Best Bees founder connected to this organization.
• Beazley InsuranceflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership to offer complimentary rooftop hives as sustainability amenity for select Beazley policyholders. Case study partnership demonstrating corporate biodiversity impact.
• Hon's HoneycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Baltimore-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that employs women survivors of trauma. Handcrafted beeswax candles and honey soap products made by Hon's Honey. 100% of profits from these products employ women survivors.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Bee Vectoring Technology: Agtech company using bees as delivery vectors for crop inputs; emerging player in commercial pollination services with overlapping bee-data science capabilities.
• Beepods: Sustainable beehive equipment manufacturer and beekeeping education provider; partial overlap as a supplier-side peer in urban beekeeping ecosystems.
• Crown Bees: Solitary bee (mason/leafcutter bee) products and pollination services; comparable as a pollinator habitat provider targeting the broader pollinator-services category.
• Hive Tracks: Apiary management software used by beekeepers to track hive health, inspections, and data — comparable as a technology layer addressing data-driven beekeeping similar to Best Bees' Bzzz program.

Direct peers

• Alvéole: Montreal-based urban beekeeping service that installs and manages beehives on commercial rooftops and properties for ESG, tenant engagement, and sustainability storytelling — closest direct competitor with a near-identical corporate subscription model.
• Bee Downtown: U.S.-based urban beekeeping services company placing hives on corporate and commercial properties; comparable service model targeting enterprise sustainability programs.
• Honeybee Zen: Urban/corporate rooftop beekeeping service in major U.S. metros offering hive installation, maintenance, and educational programming — directly comparable business model and customer segments.

Broad incumbents

• Burt's Bees: Large consumer brand built around beeswax and honey-based personal care products; broader incumbent in bee-derived products with overlapping brand narrative around pollinator protection.

Others

• Pollinator Partnership: Nonprofit scientific organization coordinating pollinator health initiatives and research; comparable in ecosystem positioning as a pollinator research and advocacy counterpart.
• The Honeybee Conservancy: Nonprofit supporting honeybee conservation, education, and habitat programs; adjacent as a complementary organization sharing pollinator-awareness audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/best-bees-company
• Instagraminstagram.com/bestbees
• Facebookfacebook.com/BestBees
• Xx.com/BestBees

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 The Best Bees Company