York-based pollination and insect biodiversity tech firm Agrisound has successfully raised more than £200,000 of its £300,000 goal in just the first two days of a crowdfunding campaign.

The campaign is designed to fund commercial hires and accelerate further development of its commercial pollinator monitoring devices.

AgriSound gained popularity earlier this year for its solar powered ‘Polly’, an automated, scalable, low-cost listening device that monitors bee levels within a field.

These insights are displayed via a web app and are used to take targeted action to boost crop yields and protect bee populations, with the end goal being to reduce pesticides and increase yields more naturally.

Casey Woodward, CEO and Founder of AgriSound with a Polly

Founder and CEO of AgriSound, Casey Woodward, said: “The whole team is over the moon to see how far we’ve come with funding so quickly.

"We’re positive we can push the rest of the way to reach our crowdfunding goal necessary to onboard new commercial hires, improve manufacturing and support, and further develop our Polly device.”

AgriSound has partnered with a number of companies and projects, including Tesco and the WWF, M&S, Innocent drinks, National Trust Scotland and Royal Horticultural Society.

Polly was launched to the UK market in January 2022, with 800 units committed for the 2022 season.

AgriSound’s R&D to date has been funded through grants and private investment and the company’s first patent was filed in July 2022

Yorkshire agri-tech pollination start-up set to smash crowdfunding target just two days into month-long campaign