Monil raises $10M to enter U.S. virtual fencing market
What's the deal? Monil, a Norwegian agtech startup that makes virtual fences for cattle farmers, has raised $10M from its largest owner FirdaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and other Norwegian venture capital investors. The funding will fuel the company's expansion into the US market.
Monil has set up a subsidiary in Kansas City, where it is recruiting sales and field staff. Chief executive officer Torstein Nesse said the company has completed regulatory preparations and is already shipping products to the US.
"There's an ongoing race in the American virtual fencing market, and this funding round enables us to join the race and compete for US beef producers," Nesse said.
Why now? Founded in Norway in 2022, Monil has sold 50,000 collars across Norway, Sweden, and the UK. It grew revenue 5x last year to $6.6M — momentum that positions it to take on a new market.
The company is also rolling out new features. Its cattle collars — solar-powered, top-mounted devices that connect to a mobile app via cellular networks — now offer heat detection based on rumination data. Calving detection will launch this autumn.
Beyond virtual fencing, the collars already provide activity-level alerts that help farmers detect entrapment and illness.
What could go wrong? Monil is entering a competitive US market where rivals have a head start. Scaling hardware across a continent-sized country with diverse ranching conditions is no small feat. Convincing American cattle producers to adopt collar-based systems — and proving reliability at scale — will be the real test.
The signal: Monil's 5x revenue jump to $6.6M and 50,000 collars sold in just three years underscore how quickly the virtual fencing category is maturing. With Firda — an investment fund and Monil's largest backer — doubling down to finance the US push, the bet is that precision livestock management is shifting from niche European adoption to mainstream global demand.
Read more: feedstuffs.com
