He says early detection of mastitis, lameness (leg and foot pain), and reproduction issues - the top ailments facing dairy cattle - paves the way for more sustainable farming and improves animal welfare.
The newly raised funds will be used to accelerate the company’s product development and validation in preparation for large scale trials planned for later this year, with several expressions of interest generated from farmers in the Waikato and the South Island.
While the company has its immediate sights on the New Zealand market, where a farmer’s average dairy herd is 440 cows, Ireland and Brazil have been identified as future markets, where typical herd sizes are closer to 70-80 cattle.
Protag’s founders credit the Sprout team’s extensive international agritech experience and connections for opening the company’s doors to future growth.
Sprout Investment Manager Warren Bebb says: “The Protag team embodies so much of what we look for in entrepreneurs: a big vision coupled with engineering smarts that use a very clever combination of the latest remote sensing technologies to bring crucial insights to dairy farmers. We are excited to back Tyrel and Baden as they strive to advance the health and profitability of the dairy industry in a sustainable way.”
Prior to their acceptance into the July 2021 cohort of the Sprout Accelerator, Protag’s founders were the winners of two global engineering competitions; receiving $US25,000 at the Keysight Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Challenge and winning the 2021 Microsoft Imagine Cup.
Sprout’s investment partners include US-based Finistere Ventures, Kiwi dairy giant Fonterra, and Israeli venture builder OurCrowd, with support from government agency Callaghan Innovation’s Technology Incubator Programme.
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About Protag
ProTag is helping dairy farmers improve animal welfare and pave the way for more sustainable farming through its smart, lightweight sensors that clip onto a cow’s ear, providing powerful insights that help detect the early onset of illness in real-time. See protag.co.nz.
About Sprout
Sprout is an investment firm based in Palmerston North with a mission to help entrepreneurs build agritech and foodtech businesses into investable, global companies. Through their accelerator, Sprout has helped grow 60 early-stage companies which have gone on to raise $23m+. Sprout has joined forces with investment partners, US-based Finistere Ventures, Kiwi dairy giant Fonterra, and Israeli venture builder OurCrowd, as well as government agency Callaghan Innovation’s Technology Incubator Programme to provide more than thirty NZ$1 million investments over the next six years. See sproutagritech.com
