Dryad

Wildfires have always threatened ecosystems, homes, and economies with very few devices for ultra-early detection before the flames spread. Most conventional systems relying on satellites, cameras, or people are typically too late on fire detection leading to significant carbon emissions and destruction. With the climate crisis rapidly declining, the need to address wildfire challenges through smarter, faster, and scalable detection is even more essential.

Dryad, led by CEO Carsten Brinkschulte, is taking on the environmental challenge, with IoT technology called the firm, using the Silvanet (our sensor network, not buried there. Moreover, Silvanet is solar-powered, uses AI, and gas detection, providing ultra-early wildfire detection within minutes of flames igniting. The company provides this real-time early warning to customers irrespective of cellular connectivity in remote forests. Our attention is on preventing the catastrophic wildfires, while also inadvertently eliminating billions of tons of CO₂ emissions. Dryad’s systems are useful to track fires, specifically near roads, railways, and powerlines where most human caused fire ignition starts. Once installed, the firm’s sensors track gaseous dispersions of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds. The output of these signals, in tandem with the microclimate data collected, and AI analysis will allow for near real-time recognition of smoldering fires – long before the fire is visual. The Silvanet system connects to an array of sensors using a LoRaWAN mesh wireless network, allowing any deployment over a wide area to happen with minimal energy consumption. In addition, Dryad deploys Silvaguard, a drone-based system that gathers aerial fire detection and imagery, and is operating and testing “Florian”, an autonomous flying drone that the firm hopes will ultimately prevent ignitions before they spread into a fire. These are big steps in creating the smart forest environments that can self-report threats. As part of the company’s suite of wildfire prevention services, the company monitors early detection, forest health, microclimate changes, and drone-based animal hazard behaviour surveillance systems. As of October 2023, Dryad has deployed systems in over 20 countries and has installed over 20,000 sensors globally. The firm is expanding both rapidly and with intention, and has increased its international reach, with costs, to market elevation, defined by identifying, understanding, and servicing targets, now accessing over 150,000,000 hectares. Dryad has about 80 employees, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with significant and growing operations in North America, South East Asia, South Africa, Spain, Canada and Australia.

Dryad has made excellent strides both in its operations and its international reach. It has entered into commercial and pilot agreements with national forest services, telecommunications providers, such as Vodafone Spain and Telus Canada, and environmental agencies seeking to modernize their wildfire prevention initiatives. By making these strategic expansions, the firm has positioned itself squarely in the midst of global wildfire resiliency development. The company finds itself in a strong growth trajectory financially. So far Dryad has raised around €19.2 million, which includes a €10.5 million Series A led by eCAPITAL, a further €8.7 million in 2024 from EU innovation grants, and First Imagine! Ventures. Their other investors include Toba Capital, Semtech, Marc Benioff (TIME Ventures) and Future Energy Ventures. These funds have been used for the development of Dryad’s Silvanet network, their associated drone programs, and the commercial expansion of the company. The firm has operated at over €3 million revenue in 2024 largely due to hardware sales and enterprise service agreements, as well as SaaS based analytics subscriptions. Both, the €1.4 million deployment of operations in Thailand as well as the €3.7 million rollout in South Africa, demonstrate the firm’s capabilities in winning huge deals across international markets. To be clear, Dryad is not yet profitable but internal estimates suggest they will break even by the end of 2026, primarily due to the economies of scale the company will attain, combined with increasing demand from climate-vulnerable countries. The company’s valuation is estimated at around €60–70 million and its future success is inextricably linked to the progress of their Florian drone platform and a deeper engagement into B2G operating channels.

Dryad's hybrid hardware + SaaS pricing model is designed to cover all of the bases while assuring maximum flexibility and scale for clients ranging from national governments to individual landowners. Each Silvanet sensor unit is priced at approximately $104 (€95), where the company also has additional income from monthly or yearly subscriptions to the cloud-based analytics platform that conveys real-time alerts, analytics and drone surveillance (with integration). Enterprise customers can also opt to build their service based on the coverage area, number of sensors and data services, allowing for recurring revenues, while being able to protect large swathes of forested land for a fraction of the cost per hectare. As the firm grows, the ability to earn revenue is becoming more tied to multi-year contracts, volume-based deployments, and the potential for third parties to license use of Dryad's proprietary AI-driven detection software for use on their own climate technology platforms.

Dryad is positioned in a fast-growing segment and has competitors driving a wedge in the segment. Pano AI employs a panoramic, high-definition camera, and applies AI to detect smoke in fire-prone areas. Pano AI's biggest markets are the U.S. and Australia, and it can only detect fires predefined by line-of-sight, which (according to their own statements) limits situational awareness to a 15-30 kilometers distance. OroraTech, based in Munich, uses satellite thermal imagery for fire monitoring, but although an improvement on Pano AI's smoke-detecting AI image, without ground resolution and real-time aspects, this involves global site-scope but limited situational awareness, in the MHz range. Fireball International combines satellites and ground cameras with data analytics, and is used by government agencies such as Cal Fire, but not without limitations: Fireball is expensive, groups provide onerous surveillance time for smoldering-stage fires. Descartes Labs uses a geospatial AI approach for fire risk modeling; however, Descartes lacks the hardware backbone that Dryad has developed.  Ultimately, the key differentiation for the firm is a ground-level gas sensing product that can detect fire in a major event within thirty minutes after ignition. It is also effective beyond areas that do not have cell coverage, or visible smoke. Its use of solar-powered mesh architecture facilitated a low-cost solution with scalable characteristics and environmental footprint. As a full-stack solution, Dryad brings hardware, software, and aerial response, while most competitors only bring imagery or software.

CEO Carsten Brinkschulte said it very well: “We’re building the nervous system for the forest.” With a vision based on prevention, machine-derived intelligence, and a mesh network and automated drones powering its scale, Dryad is reworking the wildfire management paradigm for a climate era. As a finalist in the XPRIZE Wildfire Challenge, and with capital from global investors already in place, the future may be even bolder for the firm. As fire seasons lengthen, and the mountain of wildfire damage costs continues to grow, Dryad's integrated prevention technology has potential as a key contribution to global climate resilience. With smart forest protection at its centre, Dryad demonstrates that it just doesn't always begin with a hose - sometimes it can start with a sensor, a drone, and the technology applied together in the right place.

Click here to access Dryad's website.