Conservation X Labs stands out both for the funding it is bringing to the field and for building collaborations with technologists who might not otherwise have thought about conservation work, says Geoffrey Dabelko, a political scientist focused on the environment at Ohio University in Athens.

 The start-up boasts a full-time staff of 15, is also developing its own technology, including a hand-held, battery-powered device known as the DNA Barcode Scanner. The device is designed to allow park rangers, customs officers, supply-chain inspectors and law-enforcement officials to find the genetic identity of items at very low cost, including endangered and protected wood and seafood species, and oft-disguised wildlife products such as rhino horn or pangolin scales.

As it seeks to refashion the field, Conservation X Labs is facing some challenges. Foundations find it difficult to support the group’s atypical mission as a non-profit conservation–tech effort, Alex Dehgan, co-founder and chief executive says. The company must compete with large tech firms to hire engineers to build devices. And collaborating with conventional conservation organizations brings problems, too. Often, he says, the missions don’t align: many are focused on creating preserves instead of on specific human factors that might be driving extinction, such as the economics of animal trafficking.

Hacking Conservation: How a Tech Start-up Aims to Save Biodiversity