The pages are turning and “agtech” is becoming the new sexy word, even in Hollywood! Actor Ashton Kutcher takes the lead with a FAC global semi-finalist from Pakistan. Cowlar, the smart non-invasive neck collars that monitor temperature, activity & behavior of each individual cow, has now been backed by Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher’s team was impressed and quickly realized this would be a huge business down the road.
Cowlar technology is designed to help farmers optimize operations, improve herd health and boost milk yield. You strap the cow collar (Cowlar) around a cow’s neck; it monitors temperature, activity and behavior of each cow.
Making sense of this information they provide actionable recommendations on how to (1) maximize milk yields (2) boost reproduction rates (3) identify diseases instantly (4) track geo-location
The goal is to help small dairy farmers significantly improve income on dairy farms. Cowlar’s team is obsessed with improving the lives of millions of small dairy farmers.
Cowlar applied to the Future Agro Challenge in 2016. Through its national competition in Pakistan, Cowlar was one of the 10 finalists invited to the Global Championships in Colombia.
When Umer Adnan, Founder and CEO attended Future Agro Challenge, his company was a product development and services company, with Cowlar being the product at the time. Adnan states “FAC helped me meet some very interesting people. I remember meeting and sharing ideas with lots of people and the whole experience brought clarity to my business which was helpful. Since then, we’ve decided to spin off Cowlar into a separate entity and focus completely on it.” Since 2016’s success, Cowlar moved onto attending AgLaunch and Y Combinator along with raising a $1M seed round from Ashton Kutcher amongst others (including more celebrities, such as Winkelvos twins).
“Working hard and focusing on creating something useful for your customers. Listen and understand the customers needs and try to bring a compelling product at a compelling price to market” was the advice Adnan chooses to share with upcoming agripreneurs. We have an amazing and talented team who enjoys working together and creating useful features for our customers. Our team is focused on bringing an enhanced product to market.
Umer Adnan has recently been blessed with a baby boy and a beautiful wife who is extremely supportive and understanding. ”Since the birth of our son, I have made significant changes and make a special effort to not waste any time at work (this includes giving up social media usage and prioritizing my schedule to tackle the most important problems).