Beef supply chain tech firm Breedr has raised $27m (£20m) for its cattle marketplace and farm-shelf traceability platform.
The series B raise has taken Breedr to $46.6m total raised, and will be used to grow its team and bring more ranchers and farmers on to the platform.
With more than 1.3 billion cattle in the world, Breedr is aiming to become the “system of record” for every major livestock producing region. Currently, it has around two million cattle registered on its platform, and earns a cut every time the animal changes hands.
The platform’s precise data allows producers to monitor animals more closely. By watching how animals are growing, rather than guessing, producers can get their cattle to market weight up to five months sooner.
Instead of selling at auction, where buyers judge an animal by eye, producers trade on Breedr’s marketplace, where the animals come with digital records and fees are lower.
Because many animals are sold sooner, producers are able to regain margin – and the average methane emissions from the cattle fall.
“We built Breedr to bring value back to the people who raise the cattle,” said founder and CEO Ian Wheal.
“Demand for beef is climbing while the herd is the smallest it has been in 75 years. The industry has to get more value from every animal, and you cannot do that on paper.”
Wheal, who grew up on a cattle farm in Australia before moving to the UK for a consulting and tech career, founded the company in 2018 in the UK. While he then relocated Breedr to Texas in 2022, the company operates across the US, UK and Australia, with a growing presence in New Zealand and Europe.
“If you have bought beef from a major retailer in the United States or UK, there is a good chance it has moved through a Breedr-powered supply chain,” he added.
“We already do the same in Australia and New Zealand, and this round enables us to expand connected supply chains globally – where every animal tells its own story and every producer gets paid for the quality they raise.”
The latest funding round was led by Partech, with participation from LocalGlobe’s Latitude fund and Outsiders Fund, which led the company’s series A fundraiser.
Partech General partner Arnaud Minvielle said: “Beef is one of the most complex decarbonisation problems there is. Breedr cuts emissions while helping producers become more profitable. Ian and the Breedr team are building the transaction layer for one of the world’s largest unmodernised markets, earning revenue every time an animal changes hands.
“That alignment between the commercial engine and the environmental outcome is exactly what our impact fund exists to back. We truly believe that Ian, being an insider from this industry, and his team can fundamentally transform this value chain with data intelligence.”
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