Flox Intelligence, a Stockholm university spinout, uses AI devices to steer wildlife away from trains, airports and roads

What happened

TechCrunch reported on Oct. 13 that Flox Intelligence, a company building AI devices to keep animals away from rail lines, airports, roads and other infrastructure, is one of the finalists in the Startup Battlefield 200 pitch competition. The competition is part of TechCrunch Disrupt, held Oct. 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

The company was founded by Sara Nozkova, who spent 13 years working in transportation and autonomous vehicles, according to TechCrunch. She later joined the AI lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Flox spun out of KTH in 2020.

Why wildlife collisions are a problem

Costs to aviation

TechCrunch cited an FAA estimate that wildlife strikes cost U.S. civil aviation about $272 million a year on average between 1990 and 2025. The outlet noted that the damage falls on both infrastructure and animals.

Delays on the rails

In France, rail operator SNCF says wandering animals affect more than 8,000 trains each year and rank among its five leading causes of delays, TechCrunch reported. In the Brittany region alone, 120 trains hit animals in 2023. Those collisions disrupted 660 services and caused more than 15,000 minutes of delays.

How the Flox system works

Sensing and responding on site

Flox makes edge devices that process data where they are installed instead of sending it to the cloud. A motion sensor wakes the device when something moves. A camera running on-device models then identifies the animal, and the device plays a sound suited to that species to drive it off.

Nozkova told TechCrunch the system learns over time and changes its responses so animals do not grow used to the same signals. Traditional methods include sirens, lights, fences, falcons and culling. "I was convinced the answer was not a louder deterrent," she told the outlet.

Where the devices are in use

According to Nozkova, about 150 Flox devices are operating in North America, Europe and Australia. Sites include airfields and airport perimeters, road and rail corridors, national parks, farmland, urban areas, mining sites and electrical substations. The battery-powered units can be mounted on poles, trees and other structures.

A companion software platform shows clients where devices are placed and what they are detecting. It can also produce reports for regulatory compliance and biodiversity monitoring. Readers following other startups can find more in our AI and tech coverage.

Business model and competition

Revenue and funding

Flox sells its units up front and charges an annual software and AI subscription after the first year, TechCrunch reported. It also has OEM partnerships in which companies pay a yearly fee to run its software on vehicles such as trains, and train maker Alstom is one partner. Nozkova said the company expects to finish 2026 with revenue of about $1.5 million.

The company has raised about $5 million across pre-seed and seed rounds. Unconventional Ventures and Tilia Impact Ventures led the seed round. Co-investors include GENIUS NY, Norrsken, Satgana and angel investors.

Other companies in the field

TechCrunch noted that Robin Radar's Scarecrow also uses species-specific distress calls to disperse birds and records the activity. iCHASE sells a system that spots birds with computer vision and targets them with a moving laser. Nozkova said Flox's advantage is the breadth of its system and the field data it has gathered.

What to watch next

• Results of the Startup Battlefield 200 competition at TechCrunch Disrupt, which runs Oct. 13 to 15 in San Francisco.
• Flox's $10 million Series A, which the company is now opening and plans to use mainly to grow from about 150 devices to several thousand.
• The company's longer-term goal of running its software on machines that work outdoors, including trains, cars and drones.
• Whether Flox reaches its expected 2026 revenue of about $1.5 million, as Nozkova projected.