Halter has raised $220 million in a Series E funding round led by Founders Fund, reaching a $2 billion valuation as it scales its solar-powered smart collar system for managing cattle.
The New Zealand-based company focuses on virtual fencing technology, allowing farmers to control livestock movement without physical barriers, addressing challenges in managing animals across large and remote grazing areas.
Virtual Fencing System And Technology
Halter’s system combines solar-powered collars, low-frequency communication towers, and a mobile app that enables farmers to set digital boundaries and monitor herds in real time.
Cattle are trained to respond to audio and vibration signals from the collars, allowing farmers to guide their movement without physical intervention. According to founder and chief executive Craig Piggott, most animals adapt to the system within a few interactions.
The collars also collect behavioural data continuously, supporting features such as health monitoring, fertility tracking, and early detection of illness.
Scale And Market Expansion
Halter’s technology is currently used on more than one million cattle across over 2,000 farms in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, with operations spanning 22 U.S. states.
The company said its system can increase land productivity by up to 20% by optimising grazing patterns. In some cases, farmers have reported significantly higher output from the same land area.
Halter has raised approximately $400 million in total funding and is expanding into additional markets, including South America and Europe.
Competitive Landscape And Industry Context
Other companies are also developing livestock management technologies. Merck offers a virtual fencing system called Vence, while newer entrants such as Grazemate are exploring approaches using autonomous drones.
Piggott said the main challenge is not competition from other technologies but adoption by farmers, noting that traditional practices remain widespread.
Engineering And Product Development
The company is on its fifth generation of hardware and continues to release updates regularly. Piggott said reliability is critical, as even small system failures could result in animals leaving designated areas.
Halter’s development has focused on achieving consistent performance across large herds, requiring high system uptime and long-term testing.
Background And Strategy
Piggott founded Halter at age 21 after growing up on a dairy farm and briefly working at Rocket Lab. He said the company’s strategy centres on delivering measurable financial returns to farmers, which has supported adoption despite broader challenges in the agricultural technology sector.
While the United States is a key market, Halter said its long-term focus is global expansion, noting that cattle farming is distributed worldwide. The company estimates that its current deployment represents a small fraction of the global cattle population.
Featured image credits: Pexels
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