Startup Series: DroneSeed (now Mast Reforestation)
DroneSeed (now Mast Reforestation) is working to restore forests that have been destroyed by wildfires. They are paid per acre to reforest using heavy-lift drones. In the U.S. alone, we are losing 7 million acres on average to wildfires, and natural regeneration is decreasing as wildfires become more severe. The three main problems plaguing reforestation are manual labor doesn't scale, there is a 2-3 year supply chain bottleneck, and reforestation costs a lot of money at scale. DroneSeed is building a better supply chain and is scaling the market. They use drone swarms that have a 57-pound payload that utilizes seeds in vessels bringing the supply chain bottleneck time from 3 years to 3 months. DroneSeed is the only reforestation company that is FAA approved to fly a drone with a payload of over 55 pounds, to fly drones in swarms, and can fly drones beyond visual line of sight. Their customers include timber companies, tribal nations, government agencies, and non-profits. DroneSeed is working towards carbon credits for restoration, but right now, their model is a pay per acre business. In 2022, DroneSeed hopes to reforest 10,000 acres and sequester 379,000 tons of Carbon.
Founder and CEO, Grant Canary, walks me through how DroneSeed works and how he got involved in wildfire restoration. We also discuss the problem we are facing with wildfires across the western U.S., the main problems with forest restoration as it stands now, the market, and where carbon credits are heading in the future in respect to reforestation.
Enjoy the show!
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Synopsis:
Mission: To make reforestation scalable to mitigate climate change.
Team: Grant Canary (Founder & CEO)
Product: Full lifecycle services for forestry management by using an efficient, cost-competitive fleet of drones to reduce reliance on manual labor.
