iCatal, intelligent livestock health management
Can you believe that in some farms, despite its large size, the cow is lost even for two days and is placed in another group? Or does the animal eat as much as expected before giving birth, which leads to the loss of the calf during birth? While you can save both from this damage with early diagnosis!
With the help of equipment compatible with iCattle, a livestock farmer can understand with a few simple clicks that, for example, a particular animal rested from 10:00 AM to 4:00 AM this morning and, of course, was a little stressed. Is the temperature of the animal’s body normal and in which position of the animal husbandry? In addition, what is the relationship between the food consumed the previous day and the amount of rest?
Valuable information about animal health, which, in addition to the importance of the economy of the animal husbandry industry, is also closely related to providing food security in Iran.
What is Ikettle?
iCattle is an intelligent animal health management system. By installing the product on the animal’s body and also establishing the infrastructure in the animal habitat in the livestock farm (Baharband), it collects and refines the data related to the animal’s health, evaluates and draws conclusions, and finally, the information related to the animal’s health includes: temperature and humidity conditions Place of residence, location, current behavior, prediction of birth time, body temperature, mobility, eating, sleeping and rest with the simplest tool such as a mobile phone in real-time, from anywhere and at all hours of the day and night. Informs the farmer.
I Kettle What problem does it solve?
Livestock in the industry is an economic element and it is treated as such. Suppose that we consider a valuable living creature such as livestock as an economic element such as coins and currency, as soon as it is not profitable, for economic balance, it is traded or sent for slaughter, but the intelligent equipment of iCatal helps the rancher. It keeps livestock in better conditions from an economic point of view and reduces the possibility of premature removal (forced removal) by 70%.
Therefore, the intelligentization of the processes in animal husbandry as well as the control of the health of animals will lead to the promotion of health and the improvement of the productivity of animal production and their greater comfort.
How was the “i Kettle” team formed?
Our team consists of 8 people with expertise in electronics, computer and mechanics. At different times, we cooperated in projects until we launched iCatal around the focus of intelligence.
What made you decide to launch it?
We are engineers who decided to start something based on our passion for artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things and our many years of friendship. At first, we were not concerned about animal husbandry and cattle health, but with the high price of the dollar and the problems of the livestock industry, our activity began, and now we are interested in improving animal health and the economy of livestock farms.
To establish such a startup, you don’t need a veterinary education?
Although there is no full-time veterinarian in the iCatal team, we have been cooperating with the scientific and specialized capacity of the country in universities such as the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Tehran, as well as some leading companies in the field of livestock management, and we are proof of this. There have been 1,200 hours of consultation and brainstorming sessions with these experts during this period.
How accurate is your smart necklace?
The accuracy of the necklace is much more accurate than the human eye. In addition, with the tools provided in the software dashboard, the farmer will check and evaluate dozens of livestock at the same time independently of each other.
Has this product been tested on animals?
Not only our product, but also ourselves today, we do not lack a relatively experienced force in animal husbandry! For three years, we have installed the equipment on livestock, evaluated its performance in different conditions and on animals with different conditions, and re-checked the results after updating.
Of course, this process has continued and for us, it is a permanent path.
How many customers have used your products?
Our customers are those who experienced heavy losses in the past years due to the lack of services such as animal health monitoring. First of all, we assure them that we are pursuing the reduction of a high share of this damage. At the same time, we encourage them to visit established examples.
So far, we have deployed the system in two livestock farms and we are in the process of negotiating and agreeing with two new collections.
What were the most important challenges you faced?
The challenge for a young startup in the field of new technologies includes almost the entire production and supply chain, but perhaps the most important challenges so far have been currency fluctuations, Corona, and culture.
How did the corona pandemic affect your business?
In terms of manpower, due to the covid-19 infection of our teammates, we faced interruptions, and due to the corona restrictions, it was difficult for us to supply parts.
What measures have you taken in order to build culture?
We tried to create a culture by focusing on the important points of animal husbandry and abandoning any good but unnecessary features in favor of the main needs of animal husbandry. In addition, we tried as much as possible to offer a product that is considered to be completely in the service of development and productivity from the customer’s point of view, and not just a product to sell and make money from iCatal.
We at iCatal team believe that the customer’s concern is our most important issue.
Veterinary startups in Iran are limited; What do you know the reason for that?
Activities in the field of animal medicine (animal health control) are included in the category of industries related to agriculture (agri tech). The lack of a problem solving approach and focus on the use of technology in startups has caused this field to remain unknown and less active in it.
Of course, it will not be more than a few years from the ideal opportunity that artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things have put in front of everyone, and maybe we will be able to make a serious leap in the development of these services in our own country as well as in export very soon.
Are there any businesses similar to iCatal?
Both inside and outside the country, there are competitors, but foreign competitors face serious challenges to enter and develop in the Iranian market, such as climate, race, industrial ecosystem, pricing and support, but domestic competitors, whose number is unfortunately It is very few, they are our friends and competition is necessary for progress and we consider their presence as a treasure.
What is your competitive advantage?
Our advantage is definitely in the team and product quality, although we try to never compare ourselves with our competitors and compare with our capabilities and dreams.
Have you managed to attract capital?
Yes, we first settled in Navin Tech Accelerator and learned a lot from them. The biggest asset we got in the accelerator was the knowledge and good friends in the dynamic ecosystem. Of course, at this stage, cash investment was also made by Novintech. After that, a very expert investor was introduced to us by Novin Tech, who is with our team.
What vision do you envision for the development of iCatal?
Some know a startup with its ambitions, but when its field of activity is artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, the subject will have new attractions. We are young and there is a young market in the fields of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things all over the world.
The last word?
Although we are always gaining experience, we are interested in sharing what we have learned so far (to solve problems in the field of intelligence and the Internet of Things) with our colleagues.
In addition, our team always has vacancies to recruit interested and motivated personnel.
