A Byron Bay man has revealed how his innovative beehive design, which he worked on quietly for years, scooped around $16.8 million in advance orders to more than 130 countries when he launched a crowd funding campaign.

Cedar Anderson began work on the ‘Flow Hive’ after he thought there must be a better way to extract honey from beehives without dismantling the structure and disturbing the bees.

Mr Anderson began to break down the process, assisted by his dad Stuart, eventually producing a prototype for the Flow Hive – a tap on the side of the beehive.

“We couldn’t believe it, we just saw back in disbelief laughing. We had invented the beekeeper’s dream,” Mr Anderson told the ABC.

To fund the manufacture of the Flow Hive, the pair decided to set up a crowdfunding campaign and added a promotional video, explaining the process.

The video went viral, and Mr Anderson found himself with more than $6 million in one day, and he received 24,000 orders.