We are thrilled to be co-investing alongside Agnition Ventures into Aimer Development, a company that has developed an AI-driven solution that can replace hardware and satellite imaging to optimise pasture management, improving pasture quality and boosting productivity and revenue. This investment is also supported by NZVC.
Many start-ups we come across focus on animal health technologies. While this is critical in terms of securing the future of our food supply, the foundation of a healthy and productive herd lies in the farmer’s biggest investment – their farm. The significance of well-managed pastures cannot be overstated, as they play a pivotal role not only in the quantity but also in the quality of the food source for the livestock.
Understanding this, Aimer has developed a technology solution to address the complex and time-intensive challenges farmers face in obtaining quality, timely data to support their feed budgeting decisions and improve productivity levels.
The Technology:
With a PhD in genetics and farm modelling systems, former dairy farmer Jeremy Bryant founded Aimer Development.
Eliminating the need for expensive hardware and the costs associated with satellite imagery, the Aimer solution provides farmers with valuable recommendations for optimising pasture management.
Using only a mobile phone, rotational grazing plans, supplement suggestions and fertiliser guidance can all be provided without the farmer having to regularly walk multiple paddocks and manually record data, including pasture cover and mass, herd sizes, and target feed intakes into spreadsheets to understand which paddock the cows need to go to next.
Our Investment Philosophy
Underpinning our investment into Aimer is how it aligns with our focus on investing in great people who are using breakthrough science to secure the future of food.
Factors we took into consideration in assessing the investment opportunity included:
- Affordability of the technology,
- Potential size of the market,
- Quality of the management team,
- Robustness of the pathway to product and market plan
- Strong stakeholder engagement and expressions of interest secured by the company.
In our view, Aimer’s technology solution will be transformative for farmers seeking a cost-effective and accurate way to optimise their pasture management and we’re delighted to be supporting the team to ensure this real-world application has a global impact.
