The Bee Corp
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
The Bee Corp was an Indianapolis ag-tech company founded in 2016 by Indiana University graduates Ellie Symes and Wyatt Wells after winning IU's Business Entrepreneurs and Technology Competition. Its signature product, Verifli, used infrared imagery, data analytics and a smartphone app to measure bee colony size and health inside a hive — faster and less invasive than manual inspection. It raised over $3 million in investment and grant funding; both founders made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022.
02 / The Bee Corp FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The Bee Corp restructured in 2023 to seek strategic alternatives for its technology, but could not build a sustainable standalone business. In May 2024 it dissolved its Indiana business registration, settled its debts and helped employees find new roles, transferring the Verifli technology to the USDA's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Ellie Symes and Wyatt Wells found The Bee Corp after winning IU's entrepreneurship competition, launching the Verifli infrared hive-monitoring system.
- Restructuring
The Bee Corp restructures to seek strategic alternatives to realize its technologies' full potential.
- Dissolution
In May 2024 The Bee Corp dissolves its business registration, settles debts, helps employees find new roles, and transfers Verifli to the USDA's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
The Bee Corp dissolved its Indiana business registration in May 2024.
- 02
The company settled its debts and helped employees find new roles.
- 03
Its Verifli infrared-monitoring technology was transferred to the USDA's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.