Flox Intelligence Uses AI to Keep Wildlife Away from Infrastructure

Overview

Flox Intelligence is making waves at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 with a novel approach to an age-old problem: the dangerous intersection of wildlife and human infrastructure. The Stockholm-based startup has developed AI-driven edge devices capable of identifying specific animal species and deploying tailored deterrents to keep them away from railways, airports, roads, and other critical sites.

Founder Sara Nozkova cites a childhood memory of a train collision with a wild bison in India as the spark for her mission. She realized that wildlife strikes are not a localized issue but a global crisis affecting transportation networks from the United States to France. Flox aims to solve this by moving beyond static noise and light barriers toward dynamic, behavior-aware systems.

The Wildlife-Infrastructure Collision Crisis

The economic and safety costs of wildlife collisions are staggering. In the United States, the FAA estimates that bird and animal strikes cost the civil aviation industry approximately $272 million annually between 1990 and 2025. The problem extends far beyond aviation; terrestrial transport systems face similar dangers.

In France, rail operator SNCF reports that wandering animals disrupt more than 8,000 trains each year, ranking as one of the top five causes of delays. More locally, in the Brittany region, 120 trains struck animals in 2023 alone, resulting in 660 disrupted services and over 15,000 minutes of accumulated delays. These incidents damage engines and infrastructure while posing significant risks to animal welfare and human passengers.

“We have taught machines to be brilliant, but only inside the environments we engineered for them. Cities, factory lines, warehouses. Fixed geometry, known objects. Stepping outside into nature, I saw firsthand how the same machines quickly go blind.”

Nozkova notes that traditional deterrents—sirens, lights, fences, falcons, and culling—are often ineffective because they rely on generalized responses. Animals quickly habituate to repetitive, non-specific threats. The industry lacked a solution that could understand the complexity of living, moving subjects in unstructured outdoor environments.

Technology and Operational Model

Flox Intelligence’s solution leverages edge computing rather than cloud processing, allowing devices to react in real-time without latency or connectivity dependencies. The hardware consists of battery-operated units designed for mounting on poles, trees, or existing structures along corridors.

The system operates through a multi-stage perception pipeline:

Motion Detection: A low-power sensor detects movement and wakes the primary camera system.
On-Device Identification: A camera captures the subject, and proprietary AI models running locally on the device classify the animal species.
Targeted Deterrence: The device emits a species-specific distress call or sound designed to startle the animal away from the danger zone.

Crucially, the system is designed to prevent habituation. By varying the audio-visual responses based on the animal’s behavior and species, Flox ensures that the deterrent remains effective over time. This adaptability is what Nozkova describes as the company’s primary competitive moat.

Hardware and Software Ecosystem

Flox offers both hardware units and a comprehensive software platform. The platform provides clients with real-time visibility into device deployments, ground-level activity logs, and automated reporting for regulatory compliance. It also supports biodiversity monitoring initiatives, allowing organizations to track animal movements and populations alongside safety metrics.

The business model involves selling the edge units upfront, followed by an annual subscription for the software and AI services after the first year. Additionally, Flox has established OEM partnerships with major transportation manufacturers. Train builder Alstom, for instance, pays an annual fee to integrate Flox’s software directly into its vehicles, marking a shift toward embedding nature intelligence into the machines themselves.

Market Presence and Financial Outlook

As of late 2026, Flox has deployed approximately 150 active devices across North America, Europe, and Australia. These installations span a diverse range of environments, including airfield perimeters, national parks, agricultural lands, urban areas, mining sites, and critical electrical infrastructure.

Nozkova projects that the company will conclude 2026 with revenue of roughly $1.5 million. To support growth, Flox is currently raising a $10 million Series A round, led by Unconventional Ventures and Tilia Impact Ventures, with co-investment from GENIUS NY, Norrsken, and Satgana. The funds will primarily target scaling deployments from hundreds to thousands of units and expanding the underlying technology beyond wildlife deterrence.

The startup faces competition from firms like Robin Radar, whose Scarecrow system uses species-specific distress calls for birds, and iCHASE, which employs computer vision and moving lasers. However, Nozkova argues that Flox’s advantage lies in the breadth of its data. She refers to their field observations as “ground truth” on what actually motivates large mammals, such as moose and grizzly bears, to move safely.

The Future of Physical AI in Nature

Flox Intelligence views its work as part of a broader technological evolution. As autonomous systems move from controlled factories to unpredictable outdoor environments, the ability to perceive and interact with nature becomes essential.

“Physical AI is walking out of the factory and into the messy, alive outdoors. Every machine that operates outside — trains, trucks, drones, tractors, robots — will need to understand nature, and nature intelligence is the next layer of the perception stack.”

This vision positions Flox not just as a wildlife safety company, but as a foundational provider of nature intelligence. By treating the natural world as a complex, dynamic environment that machines must learn to navigate respectfully and safely, Flox aims to set the standard for outdoor autonomous operations. Their participation in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt highlights the growing investor interest in AI solutions that address real-world ecological and infrastructural challenges.