THE 30STARTUPS OF KANSAI

DeepForest Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Kyoto University spinout advancing forest measurement through drones and AI. Our flagship software, DF Scanner, automatically processes drone data to detect individual trees and estimate species, height, diameter at breast height, and carbon stock. By replacing labor-intensive field surveys with rapid, high-resolution digital inventory, we support sustainable forest management, harvest planning, and carbon credit MRV. Founded by forestry researchers, DeepForest works with government agencies, forestry companies, and international partners to make the world’s forests measurable.

Forest managers face a growing problem: they must know what stands in their forests, but field surveys are slow, costly, and dependent on a shrinking, aging workforce. DeepForest solves this. Our technology gives forestry companies and local governments accurate stand inventories for harvest and thinning plans, helps forest owners understand the value of land they have never walked, and provides carbon project developers with the field-grade evidence their credits require. It also detects dead trees individually, preventing falling-tree hazards along railways and roads. Reliable forest data is the foundation of every decision that keeps forests standing.

Most forest analytics stop at the stand level, or at the canopy that satellites can see. DF Scanner works one tree at a time. Built on a decade of forestry research at Kyoto University, its AI separates individual crowns from dense, overlapping canopies and classifies species directly from drone LiDAR and imagery — tasks that until recently required an expert in the field. It then estimates height, diameter at breast height, and stem volume. We deliver this both as a trusted measurement service and as software our users run themselves, on a laptop.

Forests are worth more than the timber they hold. Our next step is to make their wider value — biodiversity and water conservation — as assessable as carbon. We are expanding internationally, supporting both sustainable forestry and carbon credit projects. And we are adding regular satellite observation, so forests can be watched continuously across wide areas and measured in precise detail by drone where it matters most. The goal is simple: make every forest on Earth measurable, and therefore worth protecting.