Enabling farmers to grow healthier animals and trade better, livestock management app breeds in £12 million

UK-founded livestock data management platform Breedr has raised £12 million in a mixture of equity and debt led by Investbridge Capital. The new investment will be used to develop new financial products to enable farmers to invest in their future and transform farming across the world, starting with the U.K.

The new funding brings the total raised to £17.5 million after it 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 the U.S. livestock markets.

Founded in 2019 by Ian Wheal to revolutionise outdated and inefficient agricultural practices by moving to individual animal management.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 phones 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.

Ian Wheal, founder and CEO, 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. We are 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.” According to Wheal, the startup has helped over 1,100 U.K. farmers transform their businesses through easy data analysis of more than 160,000 registered animals in less than three years.

Oliver Hogg, CEO, Investbridge Capital, said: “Breedr has built a truly innovative platform that is solving issues across the agrifood industry, from delivering key insights to farmers to help improve the care and growth of their animals, to its transformative cash-flow product, to providing transparency across the supply chain to meet the needs of retailers and consumers.” 

Remus Brett, general partner at LocalGlobe said: “The agriculture industry worldwide is crying out for disruption. Not just for the sake of the farmers and their supply chains, but for the sake of the planet and consumers. There is huge potential for Breedr to completely revolutionise how we think about livestock and meat consumption in a way that benefits everyone.”

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. 

The company has also rolled out Breedr Impact, a data-driven financial product for livestock farmers. It allows farmers to release cash from their livestock to invest in expanding their business.