CN
Cwangco Nondala
Co-founder and Chief Executive
Responsible for strategy, partnerships and operations.
About AniTrac
Built for the farmers the market decided were not worth serving.
Livestock tracking has existed in South Africa for over twenty years. It has simply never been priced for the two million communal and emerging farmers who hold 41% of the national herd. That is the gap AniTrac exists to close.
Why we started
The technology was never the problem
GPS collars work. Geofencing works. Twenty four hour monitoring works. All of it has been proven in the commercial market for two decades, with around three million animals protected.
The problem is that a collar costing between R2,800 and R5,600, with a subscription of R300 or more a month, is simply out of reach for a farmer running twenty cattle. So the farmers hit hardest by organised stock theft are the ones with no protection at all.
Two things changed that. Long range radio hardware costs about half what it did in 2020, and LoRaWAN removes the cellphone contract from every animal. Together they take a collar from R5,000 to R1,000 and a subscription from R300 to R25. That is the whole business.
What we are trying to achieve
-
10,000
Farmers protected within five years
-
R500m
Of livestock losses prevented
-
50+
Rural jobs created
These are targets tied to the five year plan, not results. AniTrac is at pilot stage.
The founders
Who is building this
MM
Mickion Mazibuko
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Responsible for technology, product and infrastructure.
Advisors we are recruiting
Technical
- LoRa network design specialist
- GPS tracking systems engineer
- Cybersecurity consultant
Industry
- RPO representative
- SAPS Stock Theft Unit liaison
- Commercial farmer with tracking experience
Business
- Agricultural startup veteran
- Financial modelling expert
- Rural sales and distribution strategist
If one of these is you, we would like to hear from you.
Partnerships
Who we are talking to
Stated accurately. These are conversations in progress, not signed agreements, and we will not describe them as anything more until they are.
RPO
The Red Meat Producers Organisation. Credibility and access to organised farming structures.
SAPS Stock Theft Units
Recovery coordination and theft intelligence. Introductions made, formal arrangement still to come.
Agricultural insurers
Indicated 10 to 15% premium discounts for tracked herds. Not yet contracted.
Cooperatives and unions
Group buying, financing and training. The main route to communal farming areas.
The plan
Where we are and where we go next
Completed
Research and planning
Market research across eight competitors, hardware sourcing strategy with two suppliers, a costed infrastructure plan, and unit economics modelled by segment.
Months 1 to 2
Pilot deployment
Four to six gateways and 50 to 100 trackers across two to three cooperatives. Testing coverage, battery life, geofence accuracy and, most importantly, whether farmers actually find it useful.
Months 3 to 12
Regional rollout
KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. First bulk hardware order, recovery unit pilot on the Gold package, and the 2,000 to 3,000 animals that take us to break even.
Months 13 to 30
National expansion
Fifty to eighty gateways, the National Operations and Recovery Centre, API integration with SAPS, insurers and auctions, then expansion into Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
How we work
Three commitments
We will not oversell you
If Bronze covers what you need, we will say so rather than push you to Gold. A farmer who feels sold to does not renew, and does not recommend us to the next farmer.
We show the numbers we do not like
Our churn projections and the negative first year margin are published on the investor page. Anyone can find them in due diligence, so they may as well hear them from us first.
Your data belongs to you
Herd location data is shared with the police only when you ask us to, in the event of a theft, and with an insurer only if you chose an insurance linked package.
Get involved
Farmer, cooperative, investor or advisor
We want to hear from all four. Tell us which you are and we will point you to the right conversation.