Halter

Halter, based in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, designs solar-powered, GPS-enabled smart collars for dairy cows and cattle, functioning as an operating system for pasture-based farms by enabling virtual fencing, automated shifting, and real-time health monitoring via a mobile app. The company's system is deployed on over 1,000 farms, with nearly 700,000 collars live globally as of 2025, supported by a team of over 300 employees. Halter achieved unicorn status with a billion-dollar valuation and generated $8.8 million in revenue, having recently secured $100 million in Series D funding in 2025, contributing to 352,939 miles of virtual fencing globally. Lead investors in its funding rounds include BOND, NewView Capital, Blackbird, and DCVC. Founded by Craig Piggott, the company's exact founding year is not publicly known.

# High-Level Overview

Halter is an agricultural technology company that has built a virtual fencing and pasture management platform for dairy farms and beef ranches.[1][2] Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, Halter develops solar-powered smart collars that enable farmers to manage cattle remotely through a mobile app, replacing traditional physical fencing with digital boundaries.[1][3] The company serves a critical pain point in modern agriculture: labor shortages, land optimization, and animal welfare management. With over 1,000 farms now using its platform across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, and a recent $100 million funding round valuing the company at $1 billion, Halter has emerged as the category leader in virtual fencing technology.[2][4]

The core value proposition centers on three interconnected benefits: increased pasture utilization through rotational grazing, reduced labor demands via automated herd management, and real-time health monitoring of livestock.[4] By combining hardware (collars and transmission towers), software (a mobile app), and connectivity infrastructure, Halter functions as an "operating system" for farm operations rather than a standalone tool.[3][4]

# Origin Story

Halter's founding is deeply rooted in personal experience. Craig Piggott, the company's founder and CEO, grew up on a dairy farm in New Zealand's Waikato district, where he witnessed his parents working 100+ hour weeks managing their herd and land.[3] After studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland and working as an early engineer at Rocket Lab, Piggott converged his two worlds in 2016 to create Halter.[3]

The breakthrough moment came through a simple but powerful demonstration: Piggott remotely guided a cow named Big Bird to a specific corner of a paddock using only a collar-based system, proving that cattle could be controlled through sound and vibration cues without physical fencing.[5] Early development involved solving unexpected engineering challenges—most notably, finding a solar panel durable enough to withstand the impact equivalent of a golf ball being driven off the tee, ultimately requiring technology similar to bulletproof glass.[5] These early deployments required the entire company to travel to farms for hands-on collar calibration, creating a culture of direct customer engagement that persists today.[5]

# Core Differentiators

• Category Leadership at Scale: Halter operates with no meaningful competition in virtual fencing, with competitors "orders of magnitude behind" in both scale and product maturity.[4] The company has deployed over 11,000 miles of virtual fencing across the U.S. alone, representing an estimated $220 million in savings compared to traditional fencing costs.[2]

• Hardware-Software Integration: Unlike software-only solutions, Halter controls the entire stack—solar-powered collars, transmission towers for farm connectivity (requiring no cell coverage), and a user-friendly mobile app.[1][3][6] This vertical integration creates a data flywheel that competitors cannot easily replicate.[4]

• Proven Customer Adoption: The platform now operates on over 1,000 farms globally, with more than 200 ranchers across 22 states in the U.S. alone.[2][4] Customer testimonials and video case studies demonstrate strong product-market fit and user satisfaction.[4]

• Data-Driven Insights: The system provides real-time herd health monitoring, fertility tracking, early illness detection, and precise location data—transforming farms from reactive to proactive management models.[4][6]

• Founder-Led Engineering Culture: Piggott's background in mechanical engineering and his early experience at Rocket Lab shaped a company culture focused on solving hard technical problems and maintaining direct relationships with farmers.[3][5]

# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Halter exemplifies the emerging "software beyond the screen" thesis—technology that extends beyond digital interfaces to physically transform real-world operations.[4] The company is riding several converging trends:

Labor Shortage Crisis: Agriculture faces severe workforce shortages, and Halter's automation directly addresses this by reducing manual herding and monitoring work.[2][4]

Sustainability Imperatives: Virtual fencing enables rotational grazing practices that improve pasture health, increase milk yields, and reduce environmental impact—aligning with growing ESG pressures on food production.[1][4]

Precision Agriculture Adoption: The broader agtech sector is moving toward data-driven decision-making, and Halter's real-time monitoring capabilities position it at the forefront of this shift.[4]

Capital Availability for Climate Tech: The $100 million Series D funding round reflects investor confidence in climate-adjacent agricultural solutions, signaling that agtech has matured beyond niche status.[2]

Halter's influence extends beyond its direct customers—the company is legitimizing virtual fencing as a category and demonstrating that even traditional industries can be rewired through thoughtful technology design and deep domain expertise.[4]

# Quick Take & Future Outlook

Halter has achieved unicorn status by solving a problem that affects millions of farmers globally: how to manage land and livestock more efficiently with fewer resources. The company's $1 billion valuation reflects not just current traction but the massive addressable market—there are approximately 1 billion cattle globally, and virtual fencing technology is still in early adoption phases outside the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia.[2]

Looking ahead, Halter is developing additional livestock management tools scheduled for 2026, designed to improve automation and accessibility based on user feedback.[2] The company's expansion trajectory suggests it will likely pursue international markets in Europe and South America, where labor costs and land constraints create similar pressures to those in its current markets.

The deeper significance of Halter's rise is that it proves venture-backed technology can create category-defining companies in industries that seem resistant to disruption. By combining founder empathy, engineering rigor, and boots-on-the-ground customer engagement, Halter has built a defensible moat that extends far beyond software—it's embedded in the daily operations of modern farms.