HerdDogg, a developer of remote, precision livestock sensor and monitoring technology, announced it has raised $2.3 million in seed funding led by Serra Venture. Others participating in the round include Innova Ventures, iSelect and other unnamed Midwestern venture firms.
Under the terms of the funding, Rob Schultz, managing partner with Serra Ventures, will be joining HerdDogg’s Board of Directors, as will TomTrone, former head of sales and marketing operations for John Deere and investor in HerdDogg.
Founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Melissa Bramdao in Ashland, Oregon, HerdDogg is the developer of a patented IoT platform that includes DoggTags™, which are attached to an animal’s ear, and DoggBone™, cloud-connected readers that are situated at strategic locations across a farm to gather behavioral and biometric data on a herd. This unique system allows for the technology to be employed not only in a barn, but across a herd’s range.
Through this system a farmer can gain access through the HerdDogg mobile app to real-time answers to questions regarding the health of an animal, if an animal is in heat, and if an animal is in the correct field or pen.
“HerdDogg is a unique and innovative approach to improving herd health and happiness. This seed funding is an important milestone for us as it positions us to ramp up our manufacturing and expand our marketing and sales initiatives,” said Brandao, CEO and founder of HerdDogg. “We are actively seeking commercialization partners who share our vision of improving animal health insights for producers.”
HerdDogg’s system does not require technical expertise, nor does it require any previous health history or animal records to begin being integrated by a farmer. Demand has been high, and the company is active in the North American, Australian, and Brazilian markets, providing farmers with as much as a two-to-three day advance notice to livestock illness and real time information on heat cycles and animal placement.
“From my experience in precision agriculture, technology commercialization and adoption are key to delivering real customer value,” said Trone. “The HerdDogg team has the right focus on sales strategy and execution to make them an ideal candidate for broad adoption.”
Others in the Herd
Wearable livestock tech has been on the agtech radar for a few years now, with innovators catching the attention of investors across a wide range of geographies.
In September 2015, Japanese agtech firm Farmnote raised US$1.7 million in a round of fundraising involving Tokyo-based trading company Kanematsu; Kanematsu Agritech; Japanese gaming company Gree; Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Colopl, Kotaro Chiba; Six Apart CTO Daiji Hirata; and an additional undisclosed Japanese company.
Targeting dairy and livestock operations, Farmnote has developed a system that uses wearable sensor devices and a cloud-based analytics system to streamline and increase efficiency in Japan’s livestock sector.
Much like HerdDogg, Farmnote’s wearable sensors transmit data via radio waves to “gateway” stations located in multiple places on a ranch or farm which then forwards behavioral information to the owner’s smartphone.
In February 2016, Israeli dairy farm management solutions firm Afimilk announced it had acquired Glasgow, Scotland-based Silent Herdsman for an undisclosed amount. VC-backed Silent Herdsman is the developer of a dairy cow monitoring system in the form of a neck collar that can detect when an animal goes into estrus in addition to detecting a variety of health problems that might need attention based on a cow’s activity, rumination, and eating habits.
More recently, GAI News had the opportunity to speak with Craig Piggott, CEO of New Zealand ag robotics company, Halter.
Their artificial intelligence-powered “point and click” application, in combination with proprietary “Cowgorithm” and cow collars, allows farmers to manage livestock from anywhere in the world. The patented technology app allows farmers to set schedules to guide herds to the milk shed, receive alerts when cows are in distress or in poor health, and create virtual fences to corral the cows.
Silicon Valley backers included Data Collective and Founders Fund – known for their investments in SpaceX, Facebook, Spotify, and Planet to name a few – who recently provided NZ$8 million (US$5.42 million) to move the technology to commercialization. Other investors in the company include Ubiquity Ventures, Promus Ventures, and more.
“We found that investors were very enthusiastic about the market opportunity,” Piggott told GAI News. “It’s estimated that there are approximately 1.5 billion cows in the world today, making them the second most populous mammal on the planet!… The scale of the market opportunity, coupled with our team and patented technology, has investors excited about our ability to transform the agriculture sector and create a large and enduring global company.”
-Lynda Kiernan