Starting with any relevant education, walk me through the twists and turns of your career to date? How did one opportunity lead to the next + what was the key takeaway/ experience in each role + how did this lead you to where you are now)
I came to the Ag space from an interesting perspective. I am a human fertility doctor and embryologist. We are bringing human reproductive tech to the animal production world.
We are bringing human reproductive tech to the animal production world
I performed the 1st human intravaginal embryo culture (IVC) procedure in our state back in 2017. The patient conceived twins and delivered healthy babies the following summer. When I thought about what IVC does, it is a different embryo incubator compared to the conventional laboratory incubator. Both need special culture media to function. In conventional In Vitro Production, the culture media requires carbon dioxide to keep the pH of the embryo culture media at the right point. In IVC, the device lets the animal’s dissolved carbon dioxide do the same thing. Not long after this 1st success, I met my 1st cofounder, Michael Whitt, PhD, professor of biomedical Engineering at CalPoly. Michael and I decided to create a new IVC device. It became clear the bovine IVP is inefficient. Overall, only about a quarter of the eggs that are produced create a viable embryo. Our 3rd cofounder, Dave Dixon, DVM, joined the team as we decided to develop technology to improve this. Dave is a large animal reproductive veterinarian. IntraVaginal Embryo Culture (IVC) has the Reproductive Technology. In many ways, it makes sense that our team would innovate with this technology.
What was the pivotal moment that put you on your current founder path?
For me it was using pretty much all that I have learned in my career to create something new to improve the outcomes of cattle assisted reproductive technology. It really is a team effort and with Michael and Dave. It has been a great journey. We all bring a lot to the table and really enjoy working together. The day that we took the device out of the cow and saw the 1st blastocyst was really an exciting time. I think this was for me, one of the highlights of this journey.
What stage are you at?
We are a seed stage company. We have had proof of concept and we are working on the final production device.
Discuss the biggest challenges of getting to this point? With the benefit of hindsight, what would you have done differently if anything?
Translating a human medical treatment to animals can be a challenge. While the basic principles are similar from a biologic perspective, cattle are unique in so many ways with respect to reproductive capacity. The most important thing is to develop a solution that is easy to use on the farm or at the Veterinarian’s facility. Any new technology must be scientifically valid and be easy to use. We have had many trials and errors developing the device and the process. We really learn from everything we do.
How have you approached funding?
We have received funding from several Ag specific VCs as well as several competitions. These include Ag Ventures Alliance, Dairy Farmers of America, The Farm Bureau, Flywheel Fund, and Elevate Ventures. We won both the Elevate Ventures Regional and Statewide Nexus Competitions and we will be in Salt Lake City for the Farm Bureau Innovation Challenge in January, 2024
Have there been any pivot points in the company’s lifetime? What triggered these? Has the value proposition changed?
Prior to innovating in the animal reproductive space, we were using biomedical engineering and embryology to create devices to improve assisted reproduction in the human space. This is the core of what we do. When we learned about the inefficiencies in cattle assisted reproductive technology, we made a real pivot. The addition of our reproductive doctor of veterinary medicine co-founder expedited this process. We feel that our tech would bring value to many stakeholders. We have pretty extensive IP. Better efficiency means lower costs and improved genetics.
What has been the greatest source of help/ guidance along the way?
We have received guidance from several sources in the Ag Industry, including business professionals and even several not-for-profits such as AgLaunch 365 and AgriNovus Indiana. We have worked with several Ag Accelerators including Dairy Farmers of America, gBeta, and Ag Launch 365. I think we have been well received.
Best advice you’d pass on to other founders?
Keep progressing. We had failures and learned from them. Support the team and make something that the customer really needs.
What do you think are broadly the biggest needs and opportunities in the Animal Health and Petcare markets?
There are so many places in the world that lack adequate protein and milk. If we could bring our tech there, it would be very meaningful.
We are in the cattle production space, but we could see this tech for goats or sheep. I think our technology could help with food insecurity. There are so many places in the world that lack adequate protein and milk. If we could bring our tech there, it would be very meaningful.
What’s going to have the single biggest impact on change in your area of the market?
The technology to improve cattle assisted reproduction will have many downstream effects. We hope to be part of that change.
What do the next two years have in store for you?
We are looking to the commercialization of our technology and meeting with more stakeholders. We are particularly interested in partnerships to have expand out technology globally. This is really a great time for our company.
