Beaty Biodiversity Museum
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver's natural history museum at UBC, housing 2 million+ specimens across six research collections including Canada's largest blue whale skeleton. It serves general public visitors, K-12 schools, UBC students, scientific researchers, and event renters through exhibitions, educational programs, and a global online database.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersVancouver, Canada
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Beaty Biodiversity Museum does
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver's natural history museum, operating since 2010 as part of the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Science on the UBC Vancouver campus. It houses over 2 million specimens across six major research collections: the Cowan Tetrapod Collection, Fish Collection (third-largest in Canada), UBC Herbarium (largest in western Canada), Marine Invertebrate Collection, Spencer Entomological Collection (second-largest in western Canada), and Fossil Collection. The museum's centerpiece is Canada's largest blue whale skeleton, a 26-metre specimen suspended in the main atrium. Beyond physical exhibitions, the museum operates an online collections database with 701,768+ searchable objects, 600,000+ georeferenced records, and 37,000+ records with images, hosted through GBIF and integrated with E-Flora BC, Canadensys, and other biodiversity data networks. It also publishes mobile identification apps (Fish Sorter, Seaweed Sorter), virtual exhibitions, and 360° tours.
The museum serves five distinct customer segments: general public and families (approximately 35,000 visitors/year), K-12 schools and educators (through group bookings and the Beaty Boxes loan program), UBC students and faculty (6,500+ served annually across Science, Arts, Commerce, Education, and Forestry), scientific researchers worldwide (accessing the GBIF-hosted database and generating 1,509 citations of collection materials), and event renters. Revenue is generated through admission fees, annual memberships, donations, gift shop sales (herbarium prints, Phylo card game, identification guides), educational program bookings, and facility rentals of the atrium, auditorium, and event spaces. The museum is funded through a mix of UBC institutional allocations, government and research grants, donations, and earned revenue.
The institution maintains 52 staff and over 100 volunteers, with curatorial direction provided by UBC faculty researchers across six specialized collections. It is operationally and strategically integrated with the Biodiversity Research Centre, which comprises 50+ internationally renowned scientists. Distribution channels span on-site visits, school bookings, global digital database access, mobile applications, virtual exhibitions, and venue rentals, positioning the museum as both a regional cultural attraction and a globally-accessible biodiversity research resource.
Beaty Biodiversity Museum firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Beaty Biodiversity Museum
- Legal name
- Beaty Biodiversity Museum
- Website
- https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver's natural history museum at UBC, housing 2 million+ specimens across six research collections including Canada's largest blue whale skeleton. It serves general public visitors, K-12 schools, UBC students, scientific researchers, and event renters through exhibitions, educational programs, and a global online database.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Beaty Biodiversity Museum industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Natural History Museum
- NAICS
- Museums (71211)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Natural History Museums (THAJADAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Museum, Zoo & Attraction Gift Shops (CRALAJAG)
Keywords
Where Beaty Biodiversity Museum is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Vancouver
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Beaty Biodiversity Museum business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Museum Admission: The museum charges admission fees for general visitors, with regular admission rates and periodic admission-by-donation days. Revenue generated from individual and family visitors to the museum's exhibitions and collections.
- Museum Memberships: Annual membership program offering unlimited museum access, member-exclusive events, and other benefits to members who pay recurring annual fees.
- Gift Shop Sales: On-site gift shop selling merchandise including herbarium prints, entomology prints, Phylo card game, and other biodiversity-themed products.
- Facility Rentals: The museum rents out spaces including the full atrium, upper/lower atrium, auditorium, and Niche Café for events, subject to availability and museum mission alignment. Rental fees are detailed in a PDF document with rates and terms.
- Donations: The museum accepts financial donations to support collections, teaching, learning, and general museum operations through various donation programs.
- Educational Programs: Revenue from booking group tours, educational programs, and specialized learning experiences for schools and groups, with options for in-person and online programs.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | General Admission |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual Membership |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Group/School Programs |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Gift Shop |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels10 records
Beaty Biodiversity Museum product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum operates as Vancouver's natural history museum, housed within the University of British Columbia and offering public exhibitions, educational programs, and research access to over 2 million biodiversity specimens across six collections (tetrapods, fish, marine invertebrates, herbarium, entomology, and fossils). The museum generates revenue through admission fees, annual memberships, gift shop sales, facility rentals, donations, and structured educational programs for schools and groups, while maintaining a globally accessible online collections database of 701,768+ specimen records.
Product overview
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is Vancouver's natural history museum and an active research collection, operated by the University of British Columbia. The museum houses over 2 million specimens across six collections: the Cowan Tetrapod Collection (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians), Fish Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection, UBC Herbarium, Spencer Entomological Collection, and Fossil Collection. The museum offers in-person and virtual experiences including self-guided tours, educational programs, Beaty Boxes for classroom rentals, and an online searchable collections database with over 701,000 records. Key products include the Blue Whale Exhibit (Canada's largest), the Fish Sorter and Seaweed Sorter mobile apps, the Phylo card game, virtual exhibitions, audio tours, museum rental services, and the Way Cool Biodiversity lecture series. The museum also maintains partnerships with GBIF, E-Flora BC, Canadensys, and other biodiversity data platforms to share specimen data globally.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Museum Admission
- Annual Museum Membership
Quantifiable outcome
- Serving over 6,500 UBC students annually across multiple faculties
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Beaty Biodiversity Museum
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Beaty Biodiversity Museum technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
Feature5 records
Beaty Biodiversity Museum partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Vancouver Indigenous Fashion WeekminorPartnership for the Whale Runway: Indigenous Fashion Night event celebrating Indigenous creativity, design, and culture during Indigenous History Month beneath the blue whale skeleton.
- Salishan CateringminorIndigenous catering partner providing food service for special events at the museum including the Whale Runway: Indigenous Fashion Night event.
- X̱wi7x̱wa LibraryminorPartnership with UBC's X̱wi7x̱wa Library for joint tours and programs exploring Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity, including collaborative events with the Li bootee mishiwayitay exhibition.
- University of British Columbia (UBC)coreThe Beaty Biodiversity Museum is an integral part of UBC, operating within the UBC Faculty of Science. The museum collaborates with multiple UBC departments including Botany, Zoology, and Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. It maintains a close relationship with the Biodiversity Research Centre, which comprises over 50 internationally renowned scientists dedicated to biodiversity study.
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)coreThe museum's collection database is hosted by GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), providing worldwide access to 701,768+ specimen records. This partnership enables global data sharing and research accessibility.
- Pacific Museum of EarthminorThe Fossil Collection is part of the Pacific Museum of Earth, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC. The two museums collaborate on joint exhibitions and educational programming, including the Walk Through Time exhibit.
- Musqueam PeoplecoreThe museum acknowledges the Musqueam people as the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory holders of the land where UBC sits. The museum has an Indigenous Initiatives program and partners with Musqueam for culturally diverse knowledge sharing and reconciliation efforts.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Beaty Biodiversity Museum competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Vancouver Aquarium: Marine biology-focused attraction in Vancouver that overlaps with Beaty's marine invertebrate collection and broader aquatic/marine programming. Comparable as a Vancouver-based biodiversity education destination competing for the same tourism audience.
- Royal BC Museum: British Columbia's largest natural and human history museum, headquartered in Victoria. Comparable to Beaty as a Canadian provincial natural history collection serving the same Pacific Northwest region, with overlapping mandate in natural history curation and public exhibitions.
Broad incumbents
- Field Museum: Chicago-based natural history museum with extensive biological collections comparable to Beaty's Tetrapod, Fish, and Insect holdings. Larger and broader institution with overlapping research and exhibition functions.
- Royal Ontario Museum: Toronto-based museum with major natural history and biodiversity holdings. Larger and broader in scope than Beaty, but operates overlapping natural history collections, research output, and public exhibition programming.
- American Museum of Natural History: One of the world's largest natural history museums, with comparable taxonomic and biodiversity research collections. Operates at a vastly larger scale but shares Beaty's core natural history, education, and research-driven mission.
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: Major U.S. natural history museum operating comparable research collections in mammalogy, ichthyology, entomology, and botany. Operates at much larger scale but shares Beaty's research, exhibition, and education model.
Direct peers
- Canadian Museum of Nature: National natural history museum in Ottawa operating comparable biological collections, public galleries, and research programs. Most directly comparable Canadian peer to Beaty's natural history mandate and government-affiliated institutional structure.
- California Academy of Sciences: San Francisco natural history institution with major research collections (ichthyology, botany, entomology) and integrated aquarium/planetarium. Closely comparable to Beaty as a research-driven natural history museum combining public exhibits with active scientific collections.
- Harvard Museum of Natural History: Harvard University's public-facing natural history museum operating comparable research collections and exhibits. Comparable to Beaty in being a university-governed natural history museum with taxonomic research and K-12 education programs.
- Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History: University-affiliated natural history museum with major paleontological, zoological, and botanical collections. Highly comparable to Beaty as a peer university natural history museum with both research and public-facing programming.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Beaty Biodiversity Museum social profiles
Digital presenceBeaty Biodiversity Museum financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Beaty Biodiversity Museum leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Beaty Biodiversity Museum funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Beaty Biodiversity Museum 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 Beaty Biodiversity Museum
What does Beaty Biodiversity Museum do?
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum operates as Vancouver's natural history museum, housed within the University of British Columbia and offering public exhibitions, educational programs, and research access to over 2 million biodiversity specimens across six collections (tetrapods, fish, marine invertebrates, herbarium, entomology, and fossils). The museum generates revenue through admission fees, annual memberships, gift shop sales, facility rentals, donations, and structured educational programs for schools and groups, while maintaining a globally accessible online collections database of 701,768+ specimen records.
Is Beaty Biodiversity Museum a public or private company?
Beaty Biodiversity Museum is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was Beaty Biodiversity Museum founded?
Beaty Biodiversity Museum was founded in 2010. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Beaty Biodiversity Museum based?
Beaty Biodiversity Museum is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Beaty Biodiversity Museum make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Museum Admission is the primary driver. The others are museum Memberships, gift Shop Sales, facility Rentals, donations and educational Programs.
Who are Beaty Biodiversity Museum's main competitors?
Regional players on record are Vancouver Aquarium and Royal BC Museum. Broad incumbents are Field Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, American Museum of Natural History and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Direct peers are Canadian Museum of Nature, California Academy of Sciences, Harvard Museum of Natural History and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Does Beaty Biodiversity Museum have an API?
No public API is recorded for Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
What industry is Beaty Biodiversity Museum in?
Beaty Biodiversity Museum's product category is Natural History Museum. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJADAC, Natural History Museums, with a secondary code of BPAGAHAA, Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty). Its NAICS code is 71211.