FarmDrive Secures £1M Pre‑Seed to Expand Livestock Data and Supply-Chain Platform Across UK and Europe
FarmDrive, an agri‑tech startup originally founded in 2014 by Rita Kimani and Peris Bosire to expand financial inclusion for smallholder farmers using data analytics and mobile technology, has recently secured a £1 million pre‑seed investment round to help scale its livestock data and supply‑chain platform across the UK and Europe. The funding will be used to accelerate product development, hire new talent and support international expansion as the company builds on early traction within the farming sector.
Based in Northern Ireland and launched in 2023 by co‑founders Gareth McDonald (CEO) and Gareth Gordon (CTO), FarmDrive has built a software platform aimed at simplifying compliance, livestock management and supply‑chain transparency for farmers, processors and retailers. The new capital is intended to enhance the platform’s capabilities and extend its reach to farms throughout the UK and beyond, reflecting investor confidence in its potential to become a global source of farm data and operational intelligence.
The £1 million pre‑seed funding round was led by TechStart Ventures, a venture investor focused on backing early‑stage technology companies with strong global ambitions. Providing the lead investment, TechStart Ventures is backing FarmDrive’s vision to become a category‑defining player in agriculture tech by delivering tools that tackle the complex challenges of data collection and compliance around livestock operations and supply chains.
Joining TechStart Ventures in the round was Ascension Ventures, an investor that focuses on supporting high‑growth startups in sectors where technology can unlock operational efficiencies and resilience. Ascension’s involvement underscores the strategic interest in solutions that enable transparency and visibility across distributed supply networks, especially in industries like agriculture that have traditionally lagged in digital transformation.
The funding round also saw participation from Angel Invest, a network of angel investors that provides early‑stage capital and expert guidance to startups with promising market potential. Angel Invest’s backing reflects the growing appetite among private investors to support entrepreneurial teams addressing practical, real‑world problems with technology that yields measurable productivity gains.
FarmDrive’s platform is already used by more than 1,000 beef and dairy farms across the UK and Ireland, tracking over 150,000 cattle. Users have reported significant time savings on compliance and record‑keeping — an average of six hours per week — while large processors and supply‑chain participants have seen up to 20 hours per week saved on paperwork and movement administration. These figures highlight the platform’s real‑world impact on farm operational workflows and data accuracy.
Beyond its farming‑specific application, FarmDrive’s enterprise solution enables real‑time traceability and sustainability reporting, features that are increasingly sought after by food processors and retailers seeking to meet regulatory requirements and consumer expectations for transparency. The company plans to deepen these capabilities with the new funding, embracing functions such as forecasting and advanced analytics tailored to broad livestock management needs.
The investment round follows a successful year for FarmDrive, which included winning multiple innovation awards such as the Innovation in Agriculture Award at the NI Farming Awards 2025 and recognition at the NI Tech Awards. These accolades reflect the industry’s response to FarmDrive’s technology and its potential to influence digital adoption in a sector historically dependent on manual reporting and compliance processes.
While this recent pre‑seed round marks a key milestone for the UK‑focused iteration of FarmDrive, the company’s history also includes earlier investment activity on the African continent. In 2017, Safaricom’s Spark Venture Fund invested in FarmDrive’s Kenyan operations, supporting the development of alternative credit‑scoring models that allowed smallholder farmers to access financing using mobile phones and data analytics. That investment helped FarmDrive build its foundational technology to score farmers and support financial inclusion in Kenya’s agrarian sector.
Overall, FarmDrive’s latest funding demonstrates continued investor confidence in agri‑tech solutions that bridge gaps between data, compliance, and on‑farm operational efficiency. With fresh capital and an expanding user base, the company is now poised to extend its technological footprint internationally, bringing its data‑centric tools to more farmers and agribusinesses seeking digital solutions to longstanding challenges.
