Kiwi agri-tech startup hits $1 billion valuation

A New Zealand startup has reached "unicorn" status with agri-tech company Halter worth US$1 billion at the end of its latest fundraising round.

The company raised NZ$165 million from global investors on the basis of a US$1 billion (NZ$1.65 billion) valuation.

Its cow collar technology, connectivity towers and a mobile app lets farmers virtually fence, move and monitor cattle using sound and vibration cues.

Halter chief executive and founder Craig Piggott said it meant a "more precise farm".

"You can lift the productivity of your land, but you can also monitor those animals for health and fertility."

Farmer Markus Woutrsen said it frees up time spent doing manual tasks.

"We're now able to focus on other jobs around the farm and approach the farm system more strategically."

The new funding would go towards expanding into the US' beef ranch markets, he said.

"Expansion's fun because you get to take a product that you know is working really well for so many farmers and then hopefully, that has an impact on a wider market or more countries."

AgResearch chief scientist Axel Heiser said unicorn status was "very, very rare" for the agricultural sector.

"We normally see very slow developments. Here, we see a lot of interest from investors that hope that this is a huge new market."

Economist Kelly Eckhold said the announcement was a good example of positive growth.

"When you get more capital into the sector, then there's more resources available to invest in technology and it is that technology that's going to increase what we call multi-factor productivity."

He said the smart farming sector was projected to grow "quite substantially".

"It's perhaps a $10-$15 billion US dollar industry globally and probably will double in the next 10 years, but New Zealand's share of that is tiny. We're really talking about in the small 100 millions type level, so there's lots of capacity there, I think, for us to grow and get our share."