The largest ecosystem of digital solutions for livestock in Brazil has been accelerating the digitization and sustainability of thousands of farms
São Paulo, April 2022 – Indicator Capital, a Brazilian early-stage venture capital firm, and Barn Investimentos are leading a Series A investment round of BRL 25 million in Rúmina, an ecosystem of digital solutions that already serves 7,000 dairy and beef farms in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Together, both companies are investing BRL 17 million. The remaining amount of the round is being complemented by other national and international venture capital funds and a group of angel investors.
The contribution will help to further accelerate the growth of the platform and the entry of Rúmi, Rúmina's Artificial Intelligence, which has already been helping thousands of farms in their management, disease detection, credit taking and production traceability. "We have the largest and most relevant database on the Brazilian livestock chain and our services are contributing to improve the productive efficiency of thousands of farms of all sizes. With the investment, we will be able to further consolidate our growth by expanding the range of solutions that will positively impact the sector, in a sustainable way”, says Marcelo Ferreira, co-founder of Rúmina.
Rúmina's vision is to help livestock farmers around the world use technology to reduce the environmental impact of the activity, increase farm productivity and lead the digital transformation of the sector, in addition to contributing to animal welfare in more than 300 thousand livestock farms in Brazil and Latin America in the next 10 years.
“The future of global livestock is about improving animal health and sustainability. By managing more than 10% of Brazilian milk, in 2021 we avoided the use of almost 230 thousand doses of antibiotics and the disposal of more than 7 million liters of milk. We contribute to improving the productive efficiency of thousands of properties, following the main financial and zootechnical indicators to produce more with the same herd and property size”, says Laerte Cassoli, co-founder and CEO of Rúmina.
Created by manager firm 10b – focused on innovative and sustainable solutions for the agribusiness and food sectors, part of the SK Tarpon ecosystem – Rúmina is the result of the consolidation of the companies OnFarm, Ideagri, Volutech and Rúmicash and brings together biotechnology, SaaS, IoT solutions and Artificial Intelligence, focused on animal health, farm management, traceability and credit for livestock farmers.
“Even before we created Barn, we studied the livestock sector for years, with a previous background of investment. We are convinced that this market in Brazil will quickly become more technical and thus even more efficient and competitive, at the same time less polluting”, explains Flavio Zaclis, founder of Barn Investimentos. “Consumers will increasingly demand transparency, traceability and control over the animal's production and breeding processes. We believe that the path to this necessarily involves the adoption of technology in the field and surroundings. We are also convinced that the producer and the dairy and beef chains want highly integrated technology solutions, that solve different problems on the same unified and integrated platform, as is the case with Rumina. We believe in Rumina's project, potential and strategy to become the most important technology company for the livestock market”, concludes Flavio.
For Fabio Iunis de Paula, co-founder of Indicator Capital, “Rúmina's technology contributes decisively to the evolution of the agricultural sector in Brazil, taking advantage of the increasing connectivity between people and devices to generate intelligence. The use of IoT solutions allows not only to bring great efficiency and productivity, but also to promote sustainability in the field with a more humanized production”.
Throughout 2021, Rúmina also strengthened its relationship with the industry, closing partnerships with Danone, Vigor, Scala and Verde Campo, among other major players in the sector.
In November 2021, Danone and Rúmina joined forces - through the ‘Mais Leite Saudável’ Program (PMLS), of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) - to assist 60 farms with the identification of the cause of mastitis within 24 hours, in the field itself, through microbiological culture. Rúmina’s tool provides information, quickly, about the agents responsible for the pathology, which directly reflects on the control of mastitis and consequently on an increasingly sustainable production.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Brazil is the 4th largest milk producer in the world, with more than 34 billion liters per year and more than 1 million domestic producers. The sector generates more than BRL 100 billion a year, and more than 4 million jobs in the countryside. Regarding the beef cattle market, Brazil is the second largest producer of beef in the world, with 16.8%, behind only the USA, which holds 20% of the volume produced globally, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
About Rúmina
Rúmina is the largest ecosystem of digital solutions for dairy and beef livestock farmers in Brazil, which includes OnFarm, Ideagri, Bovitech, Rúmicash and Volutech, and its purpose is to make livestock more productive, profitable and sustainable.
There are more than 7 thousand farms that use Rúmina's solutions, developed to democratize and simplify the adoption of technologies by producers - be it biotechnology, sensors, software, financial solutions and Artificial Intelligence - offering the best experience for the entire livestock value chain.
Rúmina was created by the manager firm 10b, part of SK Tarpon - which has 20 years of experience in the market, being one of the most experienced independent investment groups in Brazil, focused on selecting companies with great potential for value creation in the long term.
10b is committed to the co-creation of new business models, technologies and innovative solutions, which have been proven to increase productivity and profitability for the producer, in a sustainable and regenerative way, respecting the needs and desires of consumers. Its investment approach is flexible and includes investments in businesses at different stages of growth, including publicly traded companies, as long as they promote change and a positive impact on the food chain.
About Barn
Barn Investimentos is a venture capital manager firm with an extensive track-record in agribusiness and greentech investments in Brazil and Latin America.
About Indicator Capital
Founded in 2014, Indicator Capital is a Brazilian venture capital firm operating in Sao Paulo and the Silicon Valley. The partnership formed by Derek Lundgren Bittar, Fabio Iunis de Paula, and Thomas Lundgren Bittar, promotes the convergence between the dream of the entrepreneur and the financial return for the investor, tropicalizing American best practices to national startups. With more than BRL 300MM under management, Indicator Capital is the largest early-stage venture capital firm in Latin America specialized in the Internet of Things (IoT). In their investments, the partners apply value-adding, proprietary methodology Building Value Together®, besides acting as Investors for Good, a concept reinforced by the firm`s certification as a B System™ company.
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