Deep Forestry

Founders, Backgrounds, and Bench

Deep Forestry was founded in 2016 by solo founder Levi Farrand. His background includes roles as an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technician at Sweden's Geological Survey and as an adventure guide and naval diver in Australia [Crunchbase, LinkedIn].

Summary and Signal

Deep Forestry is an eight-year-old Swedish deep-tech startup developing a fully autonomous drone system to survey forests from below the canopy. The company combines autonomous robotics with AI analysis to generate millimeter-accurate measurements of individual trees for inventory, health, and ESG reporting, claiming a 30-100x speed advantage over traditional methods [deepforestry.com]. The company has been funded through non-dilutive grants, including participation in an EU Horizon 2020 project and a Vinnova research grant [cordis.europa.eu, vinnova.se].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are from the company site; founder background and grant participation have partial corroboration.

Company Overview

Deep Forestry AB, a Swedish legal entity registered in Uppsala, began in 2016 as a solo founder project led by Levi Farrand [careers.deepforestry.com]. The company participated as a project coordinator in the EU Horizon 2020 DFD project and was a participant in the Vinnova-funded FORESTMAP project, a collaboration with Swedish forestry giant SCA [cordis.europa.eu, vinnova.se]. In 2025, the company was named the winner of the CMPC Smart Forest Solutions Challenge [foresightcac.com].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founder and founding year confirmed by company site. Milestone details are from official EU and Swedish innovation project pages.

The Product and the Stack

Deep Forestry's core proposition is a hardware-software system designed to automate measuring individual trees within a forest. The company claims its drone is the world's only fully autonomous system that navigates below the forest canopy, scanning each tree before uploading data to the cloud [deepforestry.com]. The platform uses AI to generate metrics including height, diameter, volume, species identification, and health [deepforestry.com]. A partnership with Dutch robotics company Avular suggests collaboration on drone development [avular.com].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are sourced from the company website. Technical validation is partially corroborated by EU project participation.

The Market They Are Entering

Metric	Value
Global Precision Forestry Market (2023)	$6.2B
Projected Market (2028)	$10.3B

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing relies on analogous reports; demand drivers are cited from company materials and public policy announcements.

The Competitive Field

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator
Deep Forestry	Autonomous sub-canopy drones	Pre-Seed / Undisclosed	Fully autonomous navigation between trees
Terra Drone Corp	Industrial drone solutions	Series B / $70M (2022)	Global scale, surveying and mapping
Ocell	AI-powered drone analytics	Seed / $1.5M (2023)	AI analytics atop standard imagery

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and stage data sourced from Crunchbase; Deep Forestry's differentiation claims are from its website.

Opportunity

Deep Forestry aims to automate a foundational global measurement layer for natural capital. The win condition is establishing its data format and analytics as the trusted source of record for forest assets. Growth scenarios include becoming a regulatory standard for carbon, an embedded data supplier for timber majors, and building a reseller network in key geographies [deepforestry.com, vinnova.se, foresightcac.com].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Growth scenarios are constructed from cited partnerships and project wins.

Sources

1. [deepforestry.com] Autonomous Forest Drones for Precision Surveys & AI-Driven Insights | https://www.deepforestry.com/
2. [careers.deepforestry.com] People - Deepforestry | https://careers.deepforestry.com/people
3. [Crunchbase] Levi Farrand - Founder and CEO @ Deep Forestry | https://www.crunchbase.com/person/levi-farrand
4. [cordis.europa.eu] EU H2020 DFD project | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101017857
5. [vinnova.se] Vinnova grant E! 115341 FORESTMAP project | https://www.vinnova.se/en/p/forestmap/
6. [foresightcac.com] Winner of CMPC Smart Forest Solutions Challenge | https://www.foresightcac.com/news/cmpc-smart-forest-solutions-challenge-winner-announced
7. [avular.com] Partnership with Avular for drone development | https://www.avular.com/
8. [The Business Research Company, 2024] Global Forestry And Logging Market Report 2024 | https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/forestry-and-logging-global-market-report
9. [MarketsandMarkets, 2023] Precision Forestry Market by Technology, Application, Offering, and Region - Global Forecast to 2028 | https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/precision-forestry-market-256726118.html
10. [Fortune Business Insights, 2024] Commercial Drone Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis | https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/commercial-drone-market-102065
11. [European Commission] EU Deforestation Regulation | https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/forests/deforestation-regulation_en
12. [LinkedIn, 2026] Chihiro Saito - Kajima-Innovation and Incubation Office | https://www.linkedin.com/in/chihiro-saito-4931ba1b4/
13. [Tracxn, 2026] Deep Forestry - 2026 Company Profile | https://tracxn.com/d/companies/deepforestry/__c0L4vsg3renBYVmxBFzxRX1Z9cls4OcI3rbMwZx94yw