Founders Fund is known for backing groundbreaking “zero to one” companies like Facebook and SpaceX. Its latest investment is Halter, a New Zealand startup putting solar-powered smart collars on cows. Halter just raised $220 million at a $2 billion valuation. The company solves a major problem: managing cattle across vast, remote terrain without traditional methods. Founder Craig Piggott, a former dairy farmer, created a system where collars use audio and vibration cues to create virtual fences, herd animals, and monitor health via a smartphone app. The collars collect behavioral data to track fertility and sickness. Halter’s technology can increase land productivity by up to 20% or more for farmers. The collars are now used on over a million cattle across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. While competitors like Merck’s Vence exist, Piggott believes the real challenge is farmer inertia. With a billion cattle worldwide, Halter sees immense growth potential despite the agricultural tech sector’s recent struggles.
