The Fertile-Eyez^TM platform tells users which animals to inseminate and when

A 400-sow study conducted in 2024 has validated that sow insemination protocols using Verility Inc.’s fertility analysis technology called Fertile-Eye^TM delivered comparable pregnancy and embryo rates to traditional breeding protocols while requiring fewer semen doses, heat tests and boar exposure days, which led to a reduction in overall breeding system labor.

Verility CEO Liane Hart said the bottom line of using the patented Fertile-Eyez technology was a 1.6 return on investment for swine breeders and producers. She earned her bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and her master’s degree in breeding and genetics from Purdue University’s College of Agriculture.

“Both protocols delivered comparable performance, but the Verility protocol ultimately required only an average of 1.15 inseminations per sow compared to two per the standard breeding protocol,” she said. “So a single insemination using Fertile-Eyez as part of the protocol had a comparable rate to traditional double insemination.”

Benefits of Fertile-Eyez on sow insemination

Hart said the study revealed the following benefits of using Fertile-Eyez in sow insemination protocols compared to traditional methods:

• A 40% reduction in semen doses.
• A 45% reduction in boar heat tests.
• A 20% reduction in boar exposure days.
• A 38% pregnancy rate in nonstanding heat sows, which typically aren’t inseminated. “They are seen as nonproductive females, which can lead to unnecessary culling,” Hart said.
• A 24% reduction in overall system labor.
• A reduction in nonproductive sow days.
• A 91% overall conception rate. “This may prove to be an additional benefit in settings where, today, pregnancy rates are below desired levels,” Hart said.

“These results provide an opportunity to use high-indexing boar semen to accelerate genetic improvement in each herd,” Hart said. “Because we used fewer semen doses, we can now use the higher-indexing boars, which delivers a more productive and highly improved genetic-quality animal.”

AcuFast partnered with Verility by providing animals and study oversight.

“We have never seen results this positive with other ovulation interventions,” said Amanda Minton, AcuFast’s manager of swine reproductive solutions. “An additional benefit is that Fertile-Eyez is a diagnostic that works with the biology of the animal and not a hormone that is used to force ovulation.”

Additional investments, next steps and issued patents

As a result of the study, Verility has received its final tranche of a $4 million total funding round from Nashville, Tennessee-based venture capital firm Mountain Group Partners.

“We are very excited about the progress and potential of Verility to transform production animal fertility through its Fertile-Eyez diagnostic and analytics platform,” said Rob Readnour, managing director at Mountain Group Partners. “We believe that Fertile-Eyez will play an important role in reducing labor and increasing production efficiency while accelerating genetic progress going forward.”

Hart will share results of the study with breeders and producers to continue to grow Verility.

“From this point onward, we are looking to conduct customer trials throughout 2025 and into 2026, picking up potential letters of intent and purchase orders,” she said. “And we’re also looking to close out a Series A-2 round of funding in July for initial commercialization efforts.”

Verility holds exclusive licensing rights to a suite of intellectual property developed by leading investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, where it was originally created and validated in humans.

“Now the technology has been validated across multiple species and applications,” Hart said. “These AI-driven technologies enable ovulation detection and semen analysis, leveraging smartphone-enabled solutions to deliver unprecedented accuracy and accessibility. Our portfolio includes issued patents across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.

“With applications in both human and animal health, our technology stands at the forefront of reproductive diagnostics, empowering users with next-generation solutions that drive scientific advancement and global accessibility.”

Verility is a Purdue Strategic Ventures portfolio company.

The Holy Grail

Hart said Verility had begun marketing Fertile-Eyez focusing on analyzing semen quality, conducting a study that led to positive results and a peer-reviewed publication, but the company has pivoted to focus on ovulation.

“The sow ovulation market — ovulation for all species — is the Holy Grail of animal breeding,” she said. “It’s a difficult subject to tackle because it’s a complex biological process that can have much variability. Not only can it be influenced by external factors, but it can also have detection challenges since not all ways to track ovulation are accessible, affordable or accurate, and some can be downright invasive.

“The traditional way to determine which animals to inseminate and when has been done the same way for decades, whereas our work has validated the use of pioneering technology and data to make the process simpler, faster, and more efficient and profitable for breeders and producers.”