WildEye

What WildEye does

WildEye Conservation is a South Africa-based nonprofit, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Midstream Estate, Olifantsfontein, Gauteng, that builds AI-driven tools for wildlife monitoring. Its product portfolio comprises three integrated offerings: TrapTagger, a cloud-based AI platform launched in 2019 that automatically annotates camera-trap imagery by locating, identifying, and (via coat-pattern-matching) individually recognizing animals; SurveyScope, an AI aerial-census platform launched in 2014 that detects and classifies animals in aerial imagery regardless of source, view angle, region, or species, with built-in statistical analysis such as Jolly 2; and SkySeeker, a 2025-launched FAA/CAA/TCCA-certified wing-strut-mounted camera pod for light aircraft that captures high-resolution overlapping imagery for SurveyScope processing. The underlying technology stack is computer vision built on proprietary detection and individual-identification models, with both TrapTagger and SurveyScope (Detweb) codebases released on GitHub under permissive licensing for self-hosting, and a publicly released Aerial Elephant Dataset of 15,511 labeled elephants in 2,101 images supporting community model training.

The business model is philanthropic and mission-driven rather than commercial. TrapTagger and SurveyScope are provided entirely free of charge with no data limits to conservation users, generating no direct revenue from software; SkySeeker hardware is sold at cost or made available via self-build from open-source designs and rental or borrowing programs. Since 2019, TrapTagger has processed over 100 million camera-trap images for more than 130 conservation organizations across six continents, and SurveyScope's aerial surveys have served park management authorities and survey practitioners since 2014, reportedly at roughly one-tenth the cost of traditional rear-seat-observer counts.

WildEye serves three primary customer segments: conservation organizations focused on wildlife population monitoring and species identification; government park management authorities (e.g., SANParks, the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the North West Parks and Tourism Board); and survey practitioners and consultants, including channel partners such as Habitat Horizons that resell SurveyScope-powered services. Go-to-market combines a product-led, self-service model with free online registration and YouTube-driven onboarding for software, a direct hardware sales/rental channel for SkySeeker, and a partner-consultant channel for outsourced aerial survey implementation.

Name

WildEye

Legal name

WildEye Conservation

Website

https://wildeyeconservation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Short description

WildEye Conservation is a South Africa-based nonprofit developing AI computer-vision tools (TrapTagger, SurveyScope) and certified aerial camera hardware (SkySeeker) for wildlife monitoring, serving government park authorities, conservation organizations, and survey practitioners globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Conservation Technology Software

NAICS

Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213)

SIC

Agricultural Prod-Livestock & Animal Specialties (200)

akta.pro primary industry

Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation & Release (BPAGAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Livestock Precision Monitoring Software (Herd/Flock Analytics, Health Alerts) (AFAAAFAM)

Keywords

• Wildlife monitoring software
• Camera trap analytics
• Aerial population census
• Conservation AI tools
• Animal detection systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Gauteng

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Free Software Platforms: TrapTagger and SurveyScope are provided entirely free of charge to conservation organizations, funded through philanthropic support rather than direct revenue generation
2. SkySeeker Hardware Sales: SkySeeker camera pods are available for purchase at cost, self-build from open-source designs, or rental/borrowing programs for conservation users

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WildEye Conservation develops and provides AI-driven software and purpose-built hardware for wildlife conservation monitoring. Its core offerings are TrapTagger (AI-powered camera trap image annotation with coat-pattern individual identification), SurveyScope (AI annotation of aerial population census imagery), and SkySeeker (a wing-strut-mounted camera pod for light aircraft used to capture aerial survey imagery). The software platforms are provided free to conservation organizations, funded by philanthropic support, with hardware available at cost or through rental programs.

Product overview

WildEye offers a three-product conservation technology portfolio. TrapTagger is a cloud-based AI platform for annotating camera trap images using computer vision and coat-pattern recognition. SurveyScope is a complementary web application that applies the same AI annotation capabilities to aerial census imagery. SkySeeker is a hardware camera pod that mounts on light aircraft to capture high-quality aerial imagery for processing by SurveyScope. All software is free for conservation use, with TrapTagger having processed over 100 million images for 130+ organizations since 2019.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TrapTagger: AI-powered software that automatically annotates camera-trap data by locating and identifying animals, with coat-pattern-matching for individual identification.
• SurveyScope
• SkySeeker

Products and services

• TrapTagger Cloud-based AI software that automatically annotates camera trap images by locating and identifying animals, with coat-pattern-matching AI for individual identification and built-in statistical analysis tools. Free to use for conservation organizations.
• SurveyScope Web application using AI to detect and classify animals in aerial population-census data from any source, view angle, region, or species, with overlapping-image registration and statistical analysis tools (full- and sample-count techniques). Free to use for conservation applications.
• SkySeeker Wing-strut-mounted camera pod for light aircraft that captures overlapping high-resolution photographs during aerial surveys. FAA, CAA and TCCA certified, controlled via mobile app, available for purchase at cost, self-build from open-source designs, or through rental/borrowing programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Processed over 100 million camera trap images since 2019
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 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

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SANParks (South African National Parks)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSANParks utilizes WildEye's SkySeeker and SurveyScope technology for elephant population estimation surveys in protected areas including Etosha and Addo Elephant National Park.
• Namibian Ministry of Environment and TourismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Namibian Ministry uses WildEye's aerial survey technology for elephant population estimates in conservation areas.
• Ezemvelo KZN WildlifecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEzemvelo KZN Wildlife partners with WildEye for aerial wildlife population surveys in KwaZulu-Natal protected areas.
• North West Parks and Tourism BoardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe North West Parks and Tourism Board uses WildEye technology for population monitoring in parks like Madikwe and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park.
• Habitat HorizonsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartner consultant offering SurveyScope-powered aerial population surveys as a service to conservation organizations.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• NatureServe: Established conservation data nonprofit providing biodiversity status assessment and species range data across the Americas. A broader incumbent in the conservation data stack that WildEye's analytics tools can complement or compete with for grants and agency contracts.

Direct peers

• Conservation Metrics: Cropland-and-wildlife AI analytics firm applying computer vision to camera-trap and aerial imagery for biodiversity monitoring. Closest commercial analogue to WildEye's TrapTagger/SurveyScope stack for the conservation-tech buyer.
• Wildlife Insights: Camera-trap image identification platform jointly developed by Google, the Smithsonian, and Conservation International. Directly competes with TrapTagger by offering cloud-based AI species ID for camera-trap imagery to the same conservation organization buyer.
• eMammal (Smithsonian): Smithsonian-led camera-trap data management and AI-assisted species identification platform. Overlaps with TrapTagger in providing cloud-based image review for conservation organizations and academic researchers.
• EarthRanger (Vulcan Inc.): Real-time wildlife and ecosystem monitoring platform operated by Vulcan Inc. (Paul Allen's foundation). Comparable to WildEye's SurveyScope because it consolidates sensor and survey data for protected-area management, addressing overlapping park-management and conservation-analytics workflows.
• SMART (WCS): Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool developed by WCS, WWF, and partners for ranger-based wildlife law-enforcement monitoring. Comparable to WildEye because it is a widely-adopted conservation management software platform used by the same government park agencies that WildEye serves.

Emerging players

• Zooniverse: Largest online citizen-science platform (Adler Planetarium / University of Oxford). Overlaps with TrapTagger where human-in-the-loop annotation and validation are required, and shares the same conservation-research end users.

Others

• Allen Institute for AI (AI2) EarthRanger ecosystem partners: Adjacent AI-for-conservation research entity publishing wildlife detection models and tools. Technology-and-mission adjacency to WildEye; potential source of competing open-source models that WildEye may need to differentiate against.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@wildeyeconservation8664
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php?id=61574519954208
• Instagraminstagram.com/wildeye_conservation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 WildEye