A hobby beekeeper on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula is a contender for three major awards in a current venture capital recognition and commercialisation project in the United States after developing record keeping software program for beekeepers.
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The program known as Hivekeepers has been developed by hobby beekeeper Simon Mildren who in his day job works as a fire brigade officer.
He said he developed HiveKeepers because beekeepers generally are poor record keepers about the condition and health of their bees and hives.
The HiveKeepers app allows beekeepers to take detailed inspections at four levels - apiary, hive, box and frame.
It gives beekeepers a visual representation of their apiary to better track their bees and also allows them to take photos of frames to visually track progress over time.
His HiveKeepers record keeping program has in only a few short years achieved an Australian and international user base.
HiveKeepers was chosen for its research into commercialising sensor-enabled smart hives as one of 13 companies globally to participate in the Thrive AgTech Accelerator in Silicon Valley.
Mr Mildren believes it has the potential to be the solution of choice for literally hundreds of thousands of beekeepers all around the world.
HiveKeepers is one of 13 agricultural related companies being evaluated in the AGTECH event sponsored by Thrive by SVG Ventures and Forbes, the prestigious US business magazine.
The Thrive Awards being held in Silicon Valley will see the 13 companies evaluated with the one judged the winner being granted a $US200,000 venture capital award to aid in its further development.
There are two further sections - one for the People's Choice and the second for Sustainability but neither attracts a financial benefit.
The Thrive/Forbes Award winners will be announced on September 24.
"It is a real thrill to be able to participate and to expose my HiveKeepers to a significant USA and international audience," Mr Mildren said.
"It would be great to win the $US200,000 new venture capital award, but I will be happy just to poll well in the People's Choice section.
"I think there is significant opportunity to further develop my HiveKeepers software and smart hives as a user friendly and first choice solution for beekeepers both commercial and hobbyist in scale to be a full hive monitoring and management platform.
"A venture capital investor would be a great next step in the further development of HiveKeepers."
- Visit: www.hivekeepers.com