SwineTech, Inc. Secures $5 Million Series A1 Financing Round Led by Innova Memphis and Johnsonville Ventures
Animal Health and Agtech company to aggressively accelerate sales, marketing and execution of product roadmap
Solon, Iowa — SwineTech, Inc., the animal health company that leverages voice recognition, computer vision, and behavioral tracking to safely raise pigs and reduce production inefficiencies, today announced it has completed a $5 million Series A round of financing. Innova Memphis led the investment round with participation from existing and new investors Johnsonville Ventures, Ag Ventures Alliance, Quake Capital, SVE Capital, The Berkeley Catalyst Fund, as well as many angel investors, family offices, and pork producers. The investment brings SwineTech’s total funding to $6.3 million since launching its revolutionary farrowing management platform. These funds will help the company aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts, as well as broaden and accelerate product development.
According to Innova Memphis Partner Jan Bouten, who has recently joined SwineTech’s Board of Directors, “I first learned about SwineTech when I met Matthew during the Farm Bureau / Farm Credit Ag Investment Summit in 2017. Since then, the company has fully developed its second generation suite of products, successfully proven the ROI with several name-brand customers, and has built enormous trust and credibility within the pork industry. Carefully building this foundation has allowed the company to build a great early customer base to grow from during the next couple years.”
“As an experienced early stage investor in targeted verticals such as AgTech, MedTech and Logistics we’ve learned how to spot a winning combination of talent and market opportunity; this company has both of those in spades,”
JAN BOUTEN – INNOVA MEMPHIS PARTNER
Also joining in the Series A round is Johnsonville Ventures/MSAB Capital, an investment arm of Johnsonville Sausage that invests in early stage companies in the life sciences and emerging technologies industries.
“Johnsonville Ventures is excited to be partnering with SwineTech and believes that the technology developed is a step forward in animal welfare and sow productivity for pork producers. The SmartGuard® technology allows for real time monitoring and intervention and will play a significant role in reducing pre-wean mortality. As the corporate venture arm of Johnsonville Sausage, we believe we have a role to play in providing better tools to pork producers.”
KEVIN LADWIG – JOHNSONVILLE VENTURES PRESIDENT
The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for SwineTech which saw a growing team and customer base throughout the United States (USA) and Canada.
“Over the past year we have expanded our team and are now growing faster than ever. We are now partnered with some of the largest pork producers in North America, as well as Kansas State University and North Carolina State University. This growth is attributed to our team’s passion, resilience, and dedication to helping pork producers succeed.” said Matthew Rooda of SwineTech, Inc.
Matthew Rooda (Chief Executive Officer), Abraham Espinoza (Chief Operating Officer), John Rourke (Director of R&D), Lesa Stolley (Chief Financial Officer), Ben White (VP of Engineering), and Adam Magstadt (Chief Technology Officer) serve as the co-founders and leadership team within the company. Previous roles at Collins Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Lil’ Drug Store, NASA, The Pentagon, Boehringer Ingelheim, Iowa Select Farms, etc., have aided their efforts to grow the business throughout the USA and Canada. Additionally, veterinarians Dr. Tyler Holck and Dr. Thomas Gillespie joined the SwineTech team to assist in data analysis, product development, as well as ongoing customer success around the implementation of SmartGuard.
“This new funding will enable SwineTech to continue to answer some of the most pressing challenges in the farrowing house today, including labor shortage, sow mortalities, and pre-wean mortalities. With our software platform, SmartGuard, we are prepared for the IoT-enabled future of the ag economy and can continuously provide new and improved functionality to our customers. With our growing expertise in Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence, our usage of big data will create new insights and drive informed decisions on the ground,” said SwineTech, Inc. Chief Technology Officer Adam Magstadt.
The SmartGuard Farrowing Management Platform is an easy to use, portable device that leverages voice recognition, computer vision, and behavioral tracking to assist in bringing automation and traceability to the pork industry.
Key features and benefits of the SmartGuard Farrowing Management platform includes:
- Autonomous prevention of piglets getting laid on by their mothers, which has led to a consistent 17% reduction in overall piglet mortalities at wean.
- Real-time insights to each sow’s behavior, allowing for reduced labor and more timely intervention, as well as a more efficient and effective use of antibiotics.
- Individual stall micro-climate control, providing the optimal environment for piglet safety, as well as piglet and sow health.
- Birthing identification, analytics, and guidance for on-farm caregivers, creating a more efficient, traceable, and effective way to manage litters being born.
“Almost forty years, and I have not seen any intervention that has worked to mitigate the loss. SwineTech’s SmartGuard technology is the first thing I’ve seen that has the potential to make a huge, structural improvement in pig farming by reducing neonatal mortality rates and saving millions of baby pigs each year around the world,” said Dr. Tom Stein of Maximum Ag Technologies. “I am not exaggerating when I say millions of baby pigs. There are almost 80 million sows in the world today, including 42 million in China alone. That’s about 160 million litters born each year which means almost 2 billion baby pigs. At a 15% neonatal mortality rate, it’s nearly 300 million dead baby pigs each year. The SmartGuard system from SwineTech has the potential to save the lives of 160 million baby pigs each year.”
About SwineTech, Inc.
SwineTech is an animal health company that leverages voice recognition and computer vision to assist in bringing automation and traceability to the pork industry. SwineTech’s product, SmartGuard, provides the automation necessary to more successfully prevent piglet deaths from crushing and starvation, track and facilitate obstetrical assistance, and record important biometric and production information. For more information about this fast growing company, please visit https://swinetechnologies.com/.
About Innova Memphis
Based in Memphis, Innova Memphis is a venture capital firm that enables and creates high-growth companies and jobs in the healthcare, technology and AgTech fields by providing seed capital and experienced hands-on mentorship and leadership. The team’s experience spans from decades of experience in the food and agriculture sector, institutional investing, and C-suite executive roles. Learn more at https://www.innovamemphis.com/.
Media Contact: Matthew Rooda, mrooda@swinetechnologies.com