Corral raises $1.38M to expand virtual fence solutions across the U.S.
Lincoln-based Corral announces fundraise, plans to expand team and deploy hardware across 25 states in 2024.
Lincoln, NE January 22, 2024 — Corral Technologies, an agtech company that provides best-in-class virtual fencing solutions, raised an oversubscribed $1.38M round led by M25 with participation from Grit Road Partners and Invest Nebraska.
Since 2019, Corral has been working to boost the efficiency of cattle ranching operations. Founder & CEO, Jack Keating, has been a ranch hand for 15 years on his family’s third generation cow-calf operations ranch in Nebraska. He imagined a better way to herd cattle using technology and started experimenting with modified dog collars. Combining his deep industry knowledge with tinkering and experimentation, Keating founded Corral.
“Corral is set to achieve significant milestones in 2024. We will be deploying our commercial collars to producers across approximately 25 states. We are expanding our team and adding to our sales, customer success, and engineering departments. It will be the first year when Corral is projected to pass $1 million in sales. Additionally, a new collar design set for release in 2025 promises enhanced durability and reliability for our devices and we are continuing to roll out new analytics and features on the software front geared towards elevating producer profitability,” Keating said.
The backbone of this industry are the ranchers leading cow-calf operations. They have been underserved in terms of technology solutions that will save them time, hard work and improve the quality of their land and cattle. One of the biggest pain points has been effectively rotational grazing their cow-calf pairs, especially when it comes to setting up and maintaining cross fences, corralling their cattle and trying to improve their utilization rates per acre yield.
“Typically we steer clear of agtech as ranchers generally avoid adopting new technology, but the interest in Corral has created a virtual stampede of demand,” M25 Managing Partner, Victor Gutwein, said. “Whether it be enabling fewer ranch hands to work a broader area, increasing herd size while more sustainably grazing existing land or just more effective herd management, Jack and the Corral team have bucked the trend and already have sales across all the major beef producing states.”
The company will use the funds to fulfill production, expand the team and continue to refine the product’s hardware and software. Corral plans to launch a rancher-dealer network which currently consists of 15 ranchers across 10 states.
“The virtual fencing space is one we’ve been monitoring for a few years now and we’re excited to say we believe the industry is finally ready to adopt this technology. It’s clear to us that there’s no one better to understand the customer and capture this opportunity than Jack and the team he’s built,” said Ben Williamson, Managing Director at Grit Road Partners and Corral board member.
Email info@midweststartups.com for more details.
About Corral: The virtual fencing system developed by Corral Technologies boosts the efficiency of cattle ranching operations. With the capability to increase the number of grazing cattle per acre by up to 40%, ranchers experience significant gains in productivity while reducing both material and labor costs. Ranchers harness the power of Corral Technologies’ virtual fencing to remotely move and contain their cattle by establishing virtual pastures anywhere on their operation. Corral’s virtual fencing system serves as a comprehensive tool for ranchers, allowing them to monitor individual cattle health, manage activity data, and record sustainability metrics for each cow. By integrating technology into ranching practices, Corral Technologies empowers cattle ranchers with a solution that not only enhances operational efficiency but also promotes a more sustainable and data-driven approach to livestock management. For more information, please visit www.corraltech.com.
About M25: M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in tech startups headquartered in the Midwest. Since launching in 2015, M25 has become the most active investor in the region, quickly becoming the preferred seed investor for the next generation of Midwest unicorns. Portfolio companies include Kin Insurance, Loop Returns, Astronomer, Authenticx, SteadyMD, Branch and more. For more information, please visit www.m25vc.com.
