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Silent Herdsman Limited, a UK-startup that has developed a decision-support platform using high-tech cattle-collars, has raised £3 million of investment to expand its market. Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) led the round, with other investments from Albion Ventures and the Scottish Investment Bank.
The meat of the innovation features a high-tech behavior-monitoring collar that monitors a cow’s activity, and triggers alerts to a farmer’s mobile phone, tablet, laptop and/or PC when there is a notable change in activity, including oestrus detection.
“This investment underpins our unique and distinguishing product features and represents a significant endorsement towards our global expansion plans,” said Silent Herdsman CEO Annette MacDougall. “We are delighted to be working with a sterling team of professional and knowledgeable investors who have supported our technology roadmap for taking on-line data services towards internationalisation and expansion.”
With 1 billion beef and dairy cows in world, and over 34 million dairy cows in just the EU and US, Partner at SEP Stuart Paterson says that this idea is a big opportunity. “This represents a market opportunity of over $1 billion per annum to Silent Herdsman,” he said in a statement. “Moreover, the solution significantly enhances the efficiency of world food production which is of global concern. The company is rapidly making sales both in the UK and internationally, and as a result, SEP is delighted to support the company’s growth plans.”
The system uses patented tech, allowing for highly accurate health predictions and leading to improved cattle health, better yields, and higher profitability.
FEATURED PHOTO: Bala Sivakumar/Flickr