Precision livestock company Breedr has raised £12 million to develop ‘Breedr Impact’, a data-driven financial product for livestock farmers.
The company says that restricted access to finance is a concern for livestock producers and a major cause of stress for UK farmers. The removal of EU farming subsidies, which can make up to 90% of a farm’s income, is an additional challenge. The lack of cash flow is holding farmers back from making investments into their operations, such as introducing sustainable practices, and yet farmers have an under-leveraged asset – livestock – on their farm.
Breedr Impact allows farmers to release cash from their livestock in order to expand their business. For the first time it makes it possible to utilise data to track livestock as an asset.
In early trials, this innovative asset purchase agreement has created strong returns for farmers and investors and is part of Breedr’s vision to democratise access to innovative financial products for a new generation of farmers.
Precision livestock
Breedr was founded in 2019 by Ian Wheal, who grew up on a farm in Australia, to revolutionise outdated and inefficient agricultural practices by moving to individual animal management. Via the free app and platform, farmers can record everything they need to know about their animals on their phone or laptop. They can track metrics such as weight, genetics, health and medication to improve animal welfare and profitability over time.
They can scan electronic ear tags, sync movements, record medicine use, store breeding and fertility information, and receive individual data analytics for each animal in real-time to improve efficiencies and reduce emissions. Breedr’s powerful growth algorithm and benchmarking tools use this data to predict the future growth of animals, guiding farmers on how to grow healthier animals and plan finishing dates.
In under three years, Breedr has helped over 1,100 UK farmers transform their businesses through free and easy data analysis of more than 160,000 registered animals. Farmers on the platform can additionally buy and sell cattle via the Breedr Marketplace, with over 6,000 animals worth £4.5 million having been traded since January 2021.
Transforming the future of farming
The new funding from Investbridge Capital brings the total raised by Breedr £17.5 million after the startup previously raised £5.2 million from investors including LocalGlobe and Forward Partners. The startup will use the funding to continue to build out its financial products and invest in its external expansion plans, particularly focused on the Australian and US livestock markets.
Ian Wheal, founder and CEO at Breedr, said: “We have created Breedr to put data at the heart of farming. By enabling farmers to grow healthier animals, we’re transforming the industry: allowing farmers to use their animals to make investments in their farms, improve trading and provide more transparency to the supply chain – which is sorely needed in this under-invested industry.
“We’re seeing the positive impact this is having already in the UK on helping to decrease methane emissions and improve cash flow for farmers and can’t wait to expand this model across the world, starting with Australia and the US.
“We’re delighted to have the support of Investbridge Capital and our crowdfunding investors to help us expand Breedr to support even more farmers.”
Breedr benefited from early exposure in the REAP Start-up Showcase.