Ceres Tag | Kisaco Research

Founder Journey

with CEO & Executive Chair Mr. David Smith

2022 USA Innovation Showcase Finalist
25 August, 2023
1st Follow-up: Since we last spoke...

Can you provide a brief recap on your technology and an update on what if any pivots or changes in product roadmap have been made in the last 12 months and what prompted them?

Ceres Tag has recently been extending three areas of its business

  1. LIVESTOCK: The livestock capabilities to locate and monitor activity has recently undergone an upgrade to include the world’s first Pasture Feed Intake algorithm that measures through grazing time, the dry matter intake in kg per day per animal. Using this information, we can now calculate the feed efficiency, methane emissions and use that phenotype information for making genetic breeding selection choices. This capability will enhance automated sustainability reporting, increase productivity and profitability through optimising the natural capital available.                                                                                                                                                                                          The livestock division now also includes a research collar (Ceres Smart) for research institutions to develop their own algorithms that can then be uploaded to the Ceres Ranch smart ear tags for commercial deployment. Algorithms can now be developed using the detailed information from the collar to derive behaviour, performance, health, welfare or sustainability measurement capabilities to be deployed on a commercial scale through the smart ear tag platform.
  2. PET: Ceres Tag has recently developed a new, long life, highly advanced companion animal platform, Salus Pet, that is transformational for the pet owner to the veterinarian, nutrition and pharma companies for the location, behaviour, and welfare of fur friends. The long life, multifunctional monitoring of pets has become a new large market that we have brought in a lot of learning from livestock in the sensitivity of movement and behaviour characteristics. Trials are underway on 5 continents as we seek the right partner(s) to progress this with into market at scale.
  3. DISTRIBUTION: Ceres Tag has recently extended its international expansion plans with the establishment of a dozen (and growing) global distribution partners. This enables Ceres Tag to keep to its values of thinking globally, acting locally. The use of the information varies from region to region. Having local people who understand local matters will make a significant difference to adoption and benefits to the supply chain in every area.

Since we last spoke towards the end of 2022, what have been the biggest changes, both in terms of your commercialisation journey and also the operational changes required to support that journey?

Can you expand on the challenges you had around supply

The challenges of supply from the 2020 to end of 2022 have mostly been absorbed as the world production of components comes back online at production rates greater than they were pre-COVID. When it comes to electronic manufactured goods such as wearables, scaling makes an incredible difference. Everyone wants the data and prepared to pay for the data but there is no data without the wearables so there is a balance that we need adoption to get the scale to reduce the risk and the price. Ceres Tag has reached a point where many of these considerations are taking place. The greater the demand, the greater the supply, the lower the price and greater the impact to society through better decision-making information. However, it takes adoption first before the others can follow as much as people would like it the other way around, the cart is pulled by the horse, there is no avoiding this scenario unless you are so well positioned to absorb loss and take significant risk however this also limits innovation and entrepreneurship.


Given your experience in raising capital to date, what would your advice be to other founders who feel like their search for funding is almost a full-time job in and of itself?

There is no silver bullet for this question. We live by the motto “stay funded, stay focused”. There is not a lot more you need to do to be successful. There is a lot that can be said about the type of investor, stages of investment and reasons for investment. The environment for investment also needs to be considered as we all are aware the past 12-18 months have been one of the toughest ever for capital raising. For people with tactile technologies, this has been ever more challenging as people retreated to perceived lower risk virtual digital technologies despite their ability to more easily be copied. So our advice is to exhaust every bit of non dilutional funding first from grants, programs and supporters. Partner wherever you can to reduce the resources required. Once you have established an asset or MVP, then this will make capital raising a more pleasant experience. For Ceres Tag, due to the skills and capabilities of the team, we have surprisingly raised little capital for the significant value created. We have boot strapped to avoid dilution and collaborated wherever possible. We have no VC investors, no debt, ordinary (common) shares only and significant assets. Ceres Tag is well poised to scale given the climate, animal welfare, biosecurity, traceability and automated reporting pressures coming upon us.


What big milestones do you have coming up in the next 12 months. Can you share the particular challenges you’re expecting to have to navigate and your approach to each?

Ceres Tag have many significant milestones coming up in the next 12 months driven by external forces. We will see the new EU Deforest Free Supply Chain laws (Regulation on deforestation-free products (europa.eu)) that were enacted on 29th June 2023 become compulsory for 7 commodities, including beef & leather, require GPS data and the traditional statutory declaration systems collapse under the timely and accurate reporting pressures required. This will drive automated technologies with unlimited scale and capabilities like Ceres Tag become a necessity. We will also see wildlife conservation pick up and more focus on their conflict interactions with humans become more testing. Understanding movement and the impact of urbanisation on these habitats will require more real time monitoring via satellite to keep track of their activities. Our Salus Pet platform will also enter the market providing a new paradigm of care, companionship and connection between all participants connecting people with animals.


What question would you love to be able to ask most founders and why?

Do you really know what you are signing up for?

12 October, 2022
Original Interview

What was the motivation behind your business idea?

We had stock theft and everything was so antiquated on our own livestock operations that required automation for the future.


What stresses do you feel in being the founder of a start up in the animal health space?

No stress really. If you realise people are comfortable with status quo, don’t want to change and few have foresight or are driven to change to improve, things become easier.


At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics?

Now we are in market and digital, our metrics involve all the usual business measurements, but customer value is key.


What specific experience in prior roles gave you the confidence/ experience to roll the dice?

Previously was the COO of an ASX200 company, engineer, MBA, Fellow of the Australian Institute of company directors. Had run companies and sat on private and public company boards in 3 continents.


Do you like to be in a leadership role?

Yes, it is an opportunity to give back to the next generation. As the oldest person in the business, it is the youth that are digitally native that will step up to the leadership positions in the near future.


How has the value of what your company offers evolved over time?

Enormously and we are still learning of the massive full value of the platform from feedback from customers. As the Apple for animals, Ceres Tag keeps evolving


Have there been any pivot points in the company’s lifetime? What triggered these?

We started in livestock, then received pictures back of Ceres Tags in giraffe ears and we realised we had transcended an extension into wildlife, hence Ceres Wild. Likewise the pandemic brought new opportunities in pets and drove our Salus Pet platform. We also have different derivatives of the same technology in different formats depending on the customer.


Any moments where you thought it was all over? What happened next?

Start ups are not for everyone, most people cannot handle the pressure, nor do they want to. Start-ups are very hard work, long hours, always things you did not expect (good and bad) and challenging to create a position in the market. Funding is crucial and distracts from your everyday operation when you could be creating real value.


Talk us through the

...funding process

We have boot strapped and are only now going out for growth capital


...Go to market strategy

We use direct to customer ecommerce and third party logistics


...Partnerships that have been fundamental

So many! The Ceres Tag platform survives on open collaboration which makes it so unique and scalable at low cost.


Best advice you got along the way

If people show you who they are, believe them.


Advice to others wondering whether to take the leap and when not to

Stay Funded, Stay Focused


What would you have done differently?

Not much, you manage things on the way


Looking to raise Money?
How much?

Yes, undisclosed


How would you use 10X funding money?

Funding primarily used to acquire inventory to scale and enter new markets. We are growing at a rapid rate, a good thing but you need product to supply. Ours is not dependent on demand but rather supply.


Where you’d like to be in 5 years? How are you planning to get there?

It is likely we will be acquired or IPO within 5 years given our growth.


Ceres Tag aspires to be the worlds most comprehensive animal monitoring platform using direct to satellite information. Whether using a proprietary smart ear tag on livestock or wildlife or a collar for pets, Ceres Tag provides optimal biosecurity, identification traceability, provenance, performance metrics, health and welfare monitoring plus theft detection.

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