Synature: The Venture Leader Mobile monitoring animals with AI

26.01.2026 11:00, Rita Longobardi

Meet Olivier Stähli, founder of Synature. The ICT startup decodes animal communication and makes it actionable across nature, agriculture, and aquaculture. In March, Olivier will join nine other innovators on a business development and investor roadshow in Barcelona.

Name: Olivier Stähli
Location: Zurich/Lausanne
Nationality: Swiss
Graduated from: EPFL
Founding team members: Noah Schmid, Olivier Stähli
Number of employees: 5


What does your product or solution do, and what makes it unique?
Synature builds AI-powered acoustic sensors that monitor animal sounds to extract real-time insights about wildlife presence, animal well-being, and ecosystem health. What sets us apart is our end-to-end platform - from rugged hardware with long autonomy to real-time cloud-based species recognition. We are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in bioacoustics using AI to make animal communication more understandable.

What trend or shift in your industry is currently creating the biggest opportunity for you?
1. Biodiversity data gaps are becoming a global priority.
2. Animal monitoring is moving from manual to real-time, especially in agriculture.

How did the idea for your startup originate?
It started with my passion for wildlife. I built a wolf-call detector as a student project - surprisingly accurate, and it sparked the vision. At EPFL, I teamed up with Noah Schmid, who brought the tech edge. What began as a bachelor’s thesis evolved into Synature: a system that listens to nature and animals and transforms it into actionable data .

Which market are you addressing, and what potential do you see for your startup in that market?
We’re operating at the intersection of ecology, agriculture, and AI - anywhere animal sound holds untapped value. Whether it's monitoring ecosystems, improving animal welfare, or optimizing resource use, we see a massive opportunity to transform how the world listens to nature and responds in real time. The full potential is still unfolding, but the momentum is clear: sound is becoming data.

What impact do you want your technology to have five years from now?
We want animal sounds to be a standard data layer - like satellite images or weather. In five years from now we want to be the global leader in animal sounds.

What major challenges have you faced so far?
Two big ones:
1. Hardware is hard. Iterations are longer than with software - luckily we have solved all big hurdles for the HW by now.
2. Global demand. Our business is very international which triggers international expansion questions early on.

But tight feedback loops with partners and a capable team helped us iterate fast.

What motivates you on tough days?
The mission. As a kid I tracked deer and lynx with a camera. Now I do it with AI. Also, we’re not just optimizing KPIs - we’re helping species be heard, literally. That’s worth the grind.

Why did you decide to join the Venture Leaders Roadshow, and what are you most excited about?
We joined to sharpen our edge, connect with global partners, and learn from the best. I’m most excited to meet deep-tech investors and potential partners for our data transmission challenges.