Scanabull has raised NZD $1.1 million in a round led by Sprout Agritech.
The New Zealand agritech startup also secured support from Enterprise Angels and Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator programme. It is developing a system that estimates cattle weight from a 3D scan captured on a smartphone or a dedicated camera device.
Founded in 2024, the business is working with meat processors and farmers seeking more regular weight data without sending cattle through conventional weigh platforms. Trials and demonstrations are under way across New Zealand, including with Silver Fern Farms.
Weight data
In beef farming, livestock are often bought, sold and managed using visual estimates rather than direct measurement. Standard weighing usually requires cattle to be moved into yards and through fixed equipment, adding labour, handling time and cost.
Scanabull’s system uses the LiDAR sensor on an iPhone Pro or its own Scanabull Weigh Point camera to create a 3D model of an animal. Software on the device then analyses the animal’s shape and structure to estimate live weight in about one second.
According to the company, the model processes spatial data about 30 times a second. It says the system is currently more than 93% accurate for individual animals and performs better at mob level as it collects more data.
Its models have been trained on more than 100,000 animal data points. Processing runs on the device rather than through cloud systems, which is important for farms in areas with poor connectivity.
Co-founder and CEO Dan Bull said inaccurate estimates can affect pricing and planning across the supply chain.
“Many animals are bought and sold based on visual estimates rather than objective measurements. When those estimates are wrong, it can result in significant financial differences for farmers, traders and processors,” Bull said.
“Our goal is to give the beef industry a fast, reliable way to understand what’s actually happening with their animals in real time,” he said.
Farm use
The first product is the WeighApp, aimed at farmers, stock agents and veterinarians scanning animals in yards, pens or near farm gates. The company also offers the Weigh Point system for automatic weighing in the paddock, which it says is better suited to tracking growth trends over time.
The technology is intended to reduce reliance on fixed weighing infrastructure, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars and may require purpose-built handling facilities. Scanabull argues that less handling may also reduce the stress associated with yarding cattle.
Co-founder and chief commercial officer Dr Ursula Haywood said the broader aim is to improve decision-making on farm.
“The beef sector is still heavily reliant on estimation and manual processes. By introducing objective measurements that can be captured quickly in the field, we can help farmers manage their animals more effectively and make more informed decisions about when to sell,” Haywood said.
Bull said processors also face data gaps before livestock arrive for slaughter.
“Processors often have very little reliable data about animals before they arrive at the plant,” he said.
“Improving weight visibility earlier in the supply chain can help reduce inefficiencies and even improve relationships between farmers and buyers.”
Investor view
For investors, the appeal lies in applying computer vision and machine learning to a part of agriculture that still depends heavily on manual assessment. The latest funding will be used to further develop the company’s artificial intelligence models and collect more data.
Crispin Dye, investment manager at Sprout Agritech, said the approach could widen access to objective livestock measurements.
“Technologies that bring reliable data into agricultural supply chains have enormous potential. Scanabull’s use of computer vision and on-device AI opens up new possibilities for livestock management and supply chain transparency,” Dye said.
Running the software on a handset or custom camera has also been a technical focus for the startup. Bull said the company built its own model architecture to make that possible.
“No one is running neural networks at this speed on edge devices for livestock applications. Scanabull has developed our own proprietary architecture and training models to make it possible,” he said.
The company sees scope to expand the system beyond live weight into carcass weight prediction and body condition scoring.
“Our ambition is to help bring data-driven decision making into the beef industry from birth through to processing. Once farmers have accurate, real-time data about their animals, everything from farm management to market pricing becomes more efficient,” Haywood said.
