"The feedback we are getting from customers is that they love it and Hivemate is making their job a lot easier."
Ping Gong’s company Hivemate is making an impact on the Australian bee industry by turning beehives digital.
In 2014, Ping brought his successful plastics manufacturing business from Shanghai to Victoria. The goal was to continue using their advanced injection moulding technology to create plastic parts for Australia’s automotive industry. Ping quickly adapted to Victoria’s changing market and moved the focus from car plastics to high quality honey pales for beekeepers.
With experience in plastic manufacturing and a large Australian customer base of happy beekeepers, Ping was able to create the Hivemate beehive monitoring system. This new business took two and a half years to develop with help from local experts.
Hivemate is a smart beehive monitoring system which allows beekeepers to monitor the health and progress of their bee colonies. Using the smart base and mobile app that was developed by Ping’s team, beekeepers can receive data on the hives they manage. This includes the hive’s weight, temperature, humidity, and location.
“Beekeepers can view the health of their hives in real time, before spending thousands of dollars on petrol travelling to one of their many remote bee colonies.”
The company has made Hivemate 4G and Wi-Fi models for both hobby and commercial beekeepers. Ping is currently developing a Hivemate that uses a satellite solution, to help beekeepers without internet in suburban areas and national parks.
“Beekeeping is a traditional industry that is hard to break into. The feedback we are getting from customers is that they love it and Hivemate is making their job a lot easier.”
Ping described how he did a lot of research before coming to Australia and chose Victoria as the best place for his family and business.
“It took less than three months for my visa to be approved. I was very surprised how quick it was”.
Ping was nominated for a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) followed by a (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) Innovation stream. Find out more about business and investor visas.