Bumble Bee Watch

What Bumble Bee Watch does

Bumble Bee Watch is a North American citizen science platform operated by The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and a consortium of founding partners including Wildlife Preservation Canada, the University of Ottawa, the Montreal Insectarium, the Natural History Museum London, and BeeSpotter. The platform enables individual volunteers to photograph bumble bees, submit sightings through the bumblebeewatch.org website, and receive expert-verified species identifications from a team of more than 20 bumble bee taxonomists. It has accumulated 208,993 verified sightings across the United States and Canada, with 6,120 new sightings and 687 active contributing users recorded in the most recent 30-day window across 53 active states and provinces.

The platform is composed of five integrated products: the Bumble Bee Sightings Submission system, interactive Bumble Bee Maps and geo-analysis tools, the Bumble Bee Field Guide with head/thorax/abdomen color-pattern filters for species identification, the Bumble Bee Atlas program for in-depth regional surveys, and the Virtual Bumble Bee Collection feature for personal record-keeping. Technology integrations include the BeeMachine AI/ML partner for identification support, and verified records are submitted to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The platform operates without a native mobile application or public API.

Bumble Bee Watch is a nonprofit community science initiative with no direct revenue model. The platform is free to users and funded through donations directed to The Xerces Society and grants from foundations including the Charlotte Martin Foundation, Hind Foundation, Horne Family Foundation, Maki Foundation, Weston Family Foundation, NSERC, Schad Foundation, Alice C. Tyler Trust, Endangered Species Chocolate, and the New Land Foundation. Distribution is entirely self-serve via the website, with growth driven by partner referrals, regional Bumble Bee Atlas programs, and organic social channels.

Name

Bumble Bee Watch

Legal name

The Xerces Society Inc.

Website

https://bumblebeewatch.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bumble Bee Watch is a nonprofit citizen science platform, operated by The Xerces Society, that lets volunteers across North America photograph bumble bees, submit sightings, and receive expert-verified species identifications to support pollinator conservation research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Citizen Science Conservation Platform

NAICS

Apiculture (11291)

akta.pro primary industry

Honey Production & Extraction (AFAEAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Bee Health Management & Treatments (Mite/Disease Control Products & Services) (AFAEAHAK)

Keywords

• Citizen science platform
• Bumble bee monitoring
• Pollinator conservation
• Biodiversity data collection
• Community science database

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations: The platform accepts donations through The Xerces Society's donation portal. No direct revenue model exists as this is a nonprofit community science initiative.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bumble Bee Watch is a free web-based citizen science platform that enables volunteers across North America to photograph bumble bees, upload sightings with location data, and receive expert-verified species identification. Verified submissions are aggregated into a public distribution database with interactive mapping tools and contribute to research and conservation targeting for declining bumble bee populations.

Product overview

Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative citizen science platform that enables individuals to upload photos of bumble bees, identify species using an online field guide with color pattern filters, and have identifications verified by a team of expert entomologists. The platform consists of five integrated components: the Bumble Bee Sightings Submission system for data collection, Bumble Bee Maps & Geo-analysis tools for spatial exploration, the Bumble Bee Field Guide for species identification, the Bumble Bee Atlas program for in-depth survey work, and Virtual Bumble Bee Collections for personal record-keeping. The platform aggregates community-submitted observations across Canada and the United States to support research and conservation efforts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bumble Bee Sightings Submission Core platform feature that allows registered users to upload photographs of bumble bees with associated location, date, and species data; submissions are reviewed by expert verifiers and added to the public database. Targeted at citizen scientists, amateur naturalists, and bumble bee atlas volunteers across North America.
• Bumble Bee Maps & Geo-analysis Interactive web-based mapping tools that allow users to explore bumble bee sightings filtered by species, location, date, sex, status, observer, project, and sighting type across the verified database. Targeted at researchers, conservation professionals, and citizen scientists analyzing bumble bee distributions.
• Bumble Bee Field Guide Online identification guide using head, thorax, and abdomen color pattern filters to help users narrow down bumble bee species, with species profiles that include range maps, host plants, and look-alike species. Targeted at novice observers learning to identify bumble bees before submitting sightings.
• Bumble Bee Atlas Collaborative community science program that organizes regional atlasing efforts in which volunteers conduct in-depth bumble bee surveys and contribute targeted monitoring data to conservation initiatives. Targeted at volunteers and partner organizations coordinating regional conservation surveys.
• Virtual Bumble Bee Collection User account feature that allows registered participants to track and download their submitted bumble bee records, building a personal virtual collection of observations. Targeted at registered platform users who want to maintain and export their personal sighting history.

Quantifiable outcome

• 208,993 total verified sightings contributed to bumble bee conservation research
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate ConservationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary organizational partner leading the Bumble Bee Watch initiative. Xerces Society is a nonprofit invertebrate conservation organization that developed and maintains the platform.
• Wildlife Preservation CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey conservation partner providing expertise in bumble bee conservation and contributing to verification efforts.
• Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner contributing research expertise and faculty involvement in bumble bee conservation studies.
• University of OttawacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner contributing scientific expertise in bumble bee taxonomy and macroecology research.
• Montreal InsectariumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner providing expertise in entomology and public education about insects.
• Natural History Museum, LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner with international expertise in bumble bee research through the Bombus project.
• BeeSpottercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner, an Illinois-based citizen science project focused on bee identification and monitoring.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Pl@ntNet: Pl@ntNet is a citizen science platform using AI to identify plants from photos, with collaborative verification. It is comparable to Bumble Bee Watch in applying crowdsourced photo submissions plus machine learning to biodiversity data collection, though focused on plants rather than insects.

Broad incumbents

• iNaturalist: iNaturalist is the largest citizen science biodiversity platform, accepting photo-based observations of all taxa including bumble bees with AI-assisted identification. It is comparable to Bumble Bee Watch as the dominant generalist alternative to specialized pollinator tracking.
• Zooniverse: Zooniverse is the largest online platform for volunteer-driven research across disciplines, including ecology and biodiversity projects. It is comparable to Bumble Bee Watch as a host for community-led scientific data collection, though it operates at a much broader scale.

Direct peers

• eBird: eBird is a Cornell Lab of Ornithology citizen science platform where volunteers submit bird sightings tied to checklists and locations. It is the closest taxonomic-specific analogue to Bumble Bee Watch's model of volunteer-submitted, location-tagged, expert-influenced biodiversity records.
• BugGuide: BugGuide is a community-driven online community for identification and natural history of arthropods, with expert-validated submissions. It is comparable to Bumble Bee Watch as an insect-focused citizen science platform with expert verification.
• Journey North: Journey North is a citizen science project tracking migratory and seasonal wildlife phenomena across North America, including monarch butterflies and pollinators. It shares Bumble Bee Watch's volunteer-driven, location-tagged observation model and educational mission.
• eButterfly: eButterfly is a citizen science platform that crowdsources butterfly checklists across North America with expert verification. It mirrors Bumble Bee Watch's data model of voluntary, location-tagged pollinator/insect observations feeding research-grade datasets.
• BeeSpotter: BeeSpotter is an Illinois-based citizen science project focused on bee identification and monitoring, and is listed as a founding partner of Bumble Bee Watch. It is a direct peer in scope (volunteer bee photo submissions) but regional in geographic coverage.

Others

• Wildlife Preservation Canada: Wildlife Preservation Canada is a core conservation partner and founding contributor to Bumble Bee Watch. It is an adjacent peer as a Canadian nonprofit running species-at-risk recovery programs that depend on similar volunteer-driven monitoring infrastructure.
• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: The Xerces Society is the parent nonprofit that develops and maintains Bumble Bee Watch. It is a peer as the leading invertebrate conservation organization driving the platform and comparable pollinator conservation programs in the U.S.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bumblebeewatch
• Facebookfacebook.com/bumblebcons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Bumble Bee Watch