The Fertile-EyezTM 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-EyeTM 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.”
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.”
The Economic Policy Institute estimates there are 2.4 million employees in U.S. agriculture and Purdue finds that 40% of new ag jobs go unfilled. One entrepreneur is turning to computer vision, artificial intelligence and robotics – maybe a little autonomy – to try to address these challenges facing farmers. Mike Jacob, founder and CEO of TerraForce, joins to talk farmer-led innovation, solving for the labor gap and jobs to be done. We get into:
The overview of the farm labor market, its challenges and where TerraForce specifically focuses right now in the specialty melon crop market
What challenges face melon producers when it comes to harvest
How Mike sees this new era of AI and computer vision shaping precision in agbioscience innovation
What TerraForce does, solving labor challenges and how they plan to tackle a real problem facing farmers
Mike gets into seeing his first melon harvest, identifying the problem to be solved and innovating from there
The criticality of melons – yes melons – to make an impact on his community as an entrepreneur
Where the TerraForce product sits today and how regional producers are the critical testbed to the company’s success
TerraForce’s recent fundraise and what it will enable them to do
Mike’s take on the ag’s jobs to be done: ag becoming less optimized and finding ways to become more resilient to big changes
Identifying customer needs – jobs to be done – it’s the core of innovation. But what are the jobs that need to be done? What are those things left undone as we head into the 2025 growing season? And what does the current economy, trade environment and overall farm sentiment mean for innovators and the farmers they serve? Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck’s Hybrids, joins this week to make sense of it all. We get into:
What’s on farmers minds given the current state of the ag economy
Big trends Brad is seeing aside from the macroeconomic headwinds and tailwinds
The role of biologicals and seed traits in this current economy
Beck’s approach to innovation and helping emerging companies bring new ideas to market
The differentiation of go-to market in ag versus other industries and the criticality of patient capital from VCs
Areas for great impact in agtech right now as Brad sees it
The importance of staying lean when you’re starting up and recalling really great technologies that didn’t hit the market because they ballooned and got too big, too fast
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) today announced billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor Mark Cuban as the keynote speaker for the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC 2025), which will be held in Indianapolis June 2-5, 2025. A graduate of Indiana University, Cuban has achieved significant success as an entrepreneur and investor. In addition to founding disruptive companies like Cost Plus Drugs, which is transforming the prescription drug market, Cuban has invested in hundreds of companies and has served as a lead investor featured on the Emmy-Award-winning show “Shark Tank” since 2011.
“Many of my business and entrepreneurship activities first took shape during my college days in Indiana,” said Cuban. “I look forward to returning to Indiana to share my story and engage with entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers from around the world.”
Hosted by GEN in a different rising entrepreneurial city each year, the GEC gathers thousands of delegates from 200 countries to share and strengthen innovative approaches to empowering entrepreneurs everywhere. Indianapolis will be the second U.S. location to host the annual convention since its inaugural event in 2009, underscoring the state’s focus on entrepreneurship.
“As an entrepreneur and business owner for 37 years, I understand the importance of supporting entrepreneurs in all stages as they drive our economy forward,” said Indiana Governor Mike Braun. “With an intentional approach to growth, long-term fiscal stability and lower costs, Indiana is one of the top-rated states to start a business. We are thrilled to host GEC 2025, welcoming thousands of guests from around the world to remove entrepreneurial barriers and build relationships.”
In addition to a compelling keynote from Mark Cuban and insightful talks from other global leaders, the GEC 2025 program includes informative summits, workshops and masterclasses, investor matchmaking, a government ministerial and networking events.
Over the course of four days, thought leaders will inspire and challenge new thinking, trends and opportunities. GEC 2025 is targeted toward company founders, investors, policymakers and entrepreneurial ecosystem builders, providing a specific track with curated content for each audience.
“The Global Entrepreneurship Congress unites bold changemakers committed to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of GEN. “Visionary founders, forward-thinking policymakers, investors and support organizations from economies of all sizes will come together in the same room — turning ideas into action to fuel economic growth and drive meaningful change to expand human welfare.”
Indiana hosting GEC 2025 is another example of the state’s focus on cultivating a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. Indiana was ranked as the No. 11 emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem in the U.S. per the latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report from Startup Genome and GEN. Last year, Forbes named Indiana the second-best state in America to start a business.
Sponsors for GEC 2025 include Indiana University, Eli Lilly & Company, University of Notre Dame and Google. A few sponsorship opportunities are still available. For more information, reach out here.
To learn more about the GEC 2025 event in Indiana, visit www.gec.co.
AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today changes to its executive committee and its board of directors.
The board unanimously approved the addition of Robert King, executive vice president, Crop Protection Business Unit at Corteva Agriscience, and David Pugh, chief financial officer of AgReliant Genetics, to the executive committee. The board also approved the addition of Dr. Brian Lutz, vice president of Agricultural Solutions at Corteva Agriscience, and Micah Beckwith, Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, as successions to replace outgoing directors.
“Indiana’s agbioscience economy continues to grow thanks to the direction and support of the AgriNovus board of directors,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The addition of these experts to our Board brings even more breadth of expertise to our team as we work to build the agbioscience economy of the future.”
Beckwith is Indiana’s lieutenant governor, overseeing the state’s Department of Agriculture and leading the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. He grew up working in the dairy industry and for more than fifteen years, he has served as a pastor. Beckwith holds a bachelor of science in Business and Economics from Huntington College.
King is executive vice president of the Crop Protection Business Unit at Corteva Agriscience, a role he assumed in 2022. Prior to Corteva, he served as senior vice president and chief integrated supply officer at Nouryon, a specialty chemicals company, where he spearheaded the global and cross-business integration of the company’s supply chain. King has also held leadership roles at PPG, Nutrien, Agrium and Celanese, leading teams in the United States, Canada, China and the United Kingdom. King holds a bachelor of science in Chemical Engineering from Texas Tech University, a master’s of business administration from Texas Woman’s University and is also a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma.
Lutz is vice president of Agricultural Solutions at Corteva Agriscience, overseeing the development of digital solutions that support the research and development pipeline. Previously, he was chief science officer of The Climate Corporation and held a leadership role on the Bayer Crop Science research and development team. Lutz was raised on a fourth-generation farm in Ohio and remains closely connected to his family’s farming operation. He earned his bachelor of science in Biology from the College of Wooster and his doctorate in Biogeochemistry from Duke University. Lutz also holds certificates from Northwestern University in executive education and business management.
Pugh serves as vice president of finance and chief financial officer of AgReliant Genetics, overseeing the financial direction of the company on key, long-range strategies. Previously, he was treasurer and vice president of finance strategy and risk management for Elanco Animal Health, where he established the treasury and risk management teams upon Elanco’s IPO and spin off from Eli Lilly. Prior to Elanco, Pugh spent 24 years with Eli Lilly & Company where he held several positions in finance and information technology. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Purdue University and a master of business administration from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
The AgriNovus Indiana board of directors is comprised of leaders from industry, academia and government. All members are listed online at www.AgriNovusIndiana.com/Board.
Research estimates the global animal health market to be roughly $8 billion, a number analyst firm Grand View Research expects to grow at a 10% compounded annual growth rate through 2030. Much of that growth will be driven by biotechnology. Dr. Todd Zion, CEO and founder of Akston Biosciences, joins this week to help understand what is happening in the biotech markets, specifically as it relates to companion animal innovation. We get into:
Where the market sits today and how it is evolving
Akston Biosciences’ 2024 partnership announcement with Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine focused on a therapeutic for canine oncology
His approach to animal health innovation through precision proteins creating affordable, effective treatments for companion animals
What sits in the Akston Biosciences pipeline currently and the company’s approach to cost-effectiveness while also staying innovative
Todd’s past work in human health, how he sees two sides – animal and human health – coming together to push innovation further, faster
The regulatory hurdles faced by both human and animal health innovators that delay getting safe, effective treatments to market
A big need for more risk capital coming into the animal health innovation market
