Estonian forestry startup Timbeter collects $1 million to expand in Southeast Asia and Latin America

Timbeter, an Estonion startup working in precision forestry, has raised $1 million toward its goals of optimising forestry, securing legal trade and fighting illegal logging. The seed round was led by TMT Investments and Change Ventures, with EigenKapital, Contriber Ventures and Wiser participating as well. The Tallinn-based company developed a smartphone application that measures timber quickly and accurately, which is now a full-fledged logistics and reporting platform. It sounds simple, but the impact is wide-reaching and complex. Timbeter’s artificial intelligence technology helps companies in the forestry sector speed up operations, increase employee safety, save resources, and comply with transparency, forest governance and legal trade. “By facilitating smooth digital data exchange between the government and companies, it is easier to ensure sustainable forest management and fight illegal logging,” explained Anna-Greta Tsahkna, CEO of Timbeter. Founded in 2013, the startup has compiled the world’s largest database of photometric measurements of roundwood, which allows live online tracking of timber assets, down to individual shipments and piles throughout the forestry value chain. Compared to traditional methods, Timbeter’s algorithms reportedly cut measurement and documentation times by 10 and increase accuracy by five times. Currently the platform serves over 20,000 users in more than 60 countries, in 14 languages. With the new funding, the company plans to fuel expansion in Southeast Asia and Lating America. Commenting on the round, Yrjö Ojasaar, founder and partner of Change Ventures, said: “We are very excited about this investment, because we see Timbeter’s precision forestry platform bringing similar dramatic increases in profitability, transparency and efficiency to the timber sector that precision agriculture platforms have delivered in farming.”