NI agri-tech firm farmdrive secures £1m to accelerate global livestock data platform

farmdrive co-founders - Gareth Gordon, CTO, and Gareth McDonald, CEO

Northern Ireland agri-tech company farmdrive has raised £1 million in pre-seed investment to drive international growth of its pioneering livestock data and supply chain platform.

The funding round was led by TechStart Ventures and Ascension Ventures, with participation from Angel Invest, and will support product development, team expansion, and entry into new markets across the UK and Europe.

Founded in 2023 by Ahoghill entrepreneur Gareth McDonald (CEO) and Portglenone native Gareth Gordon (CTO), farmdrive was inspired by their own family farm experience and built to simplify the heavy burden of compliance paperwork.

The platform now serves over 1,000 beef and dairy farms across the UK and Ireland, tracking more than 150,000 cattle. Farmers using the app report saving at least six hours a week on record-keeping and compliance tasks.

The farmdrive team

Alongside its app for farmers, farmdrive enterprise connects meat processors and retailers to real-time data, enabling full traceability, 12-month supply forecasting, medication monitoring, and sustainability reporting. Enterprise users — including ABP Linden and Foyle Meats — report saving more than 20 hours per week on supply-chain paperwork.

‘A single source of truth for farm data’

Audrey Osbourne of TechStart Ventures said:

“Techstart is delighted to support the farmdrive team on their mission to become the global single source of truth for farm data. Their vision aligns strongly with our focus on backing ambitious founders at the earliest stage, who are pursuing uncapped global opportunities in industries they understand deeply.”

The founders’ entrepreneurial journey was supported through local programmes such as the NatWest Ulster Bank Accelerator and Ormeau Labs’ Founder Labs, which they credit with helping shape their success.

Gareth McDonald, CEO of farmdrive

Gareth McDonald, a fourth-generation farmer and CEO of farmdrive, said:

“The support we have received through local programmes has been fundamental in our success; from being able to tap into expertise to first-class networking opportunities.

“farmdrive was started on my own family farm to make everyday life easier for cattle farmers. We’re incredibly proud to see it being loved and trusted by thousands of farmers across the UK and Ireland. This £1m investment lets us take our practical vision worldwide - giving farmers better data in their pocket and giving meat processors and retailers the transparency they need - from farm to shelf.”

CTO Gareth Gordon

CTO Gareth Gordon added:

“As software engineers who grew up on farms, we’ve always had a very practical approach, and believe technology only matters if it truly helps farmers. This investment means we can keep improving farmdrive – making it faster, smarter, and more useful - simplifying compliance for farmers and giving supply chains a live view right back to the farm gate.”

Transforming livestock traceability

Toyosi Ogebengbe, Principal at Ascension, commented:

“Supply chain visibility is vital to informing production, establishing an audit trail, and building resilient food systems. farmdrive is at the forefront of this transformation providing critical infrastructure to make this possible. We’re pumped to back Gareth and Gareth - two farmers turned software engineers - who are bringing farming into the 21st century.”

Connor Murphy, Partner at Angel Invest, added:

“farmdrive’s early growth is striking. Farmers are discovering the app, adopting it, and spreading it organically from farm to farm. You almost never see this kind of viral growth in agriculture. The team’s credibility and understanding of this multi-billion-pound market points to a category-defining company in the making. That’s why we’re so excited to back Gareth and the team.”

The funding follows a standout 2025 for farmdrive, having won the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society Innovation Award, been named Tech Start-Up of the Year at the NI Tech Awards, and scooped the Innovation in Agriculture Award at the NI Farming Awards.

Over the next 12 months, farmdrive plans to grow its team, hiring across software engineering, data analysis, marketing, customer success, and enterprise account management.

For more information or to start a 30-day free trial, visit www.farmdrive.io, or email info@farmdrive.io for a demo of farmdrive enterprise.

About farmdrive

farmdrive CTO, Gareth Gordon, and CEO, Gareth McDonald, at the NI Tech Awards.

farmdrive is a Northern Ireland-based agri-tech platform connecting farmers, meat processors, and retailers through real-time livestock data.

The platform replaces paper-based compliance with digital tools, helping farmers stay efficient, compliant, and connected. Recognised by DAERA NI, EID Scotland, and AIM Ireland, farmdrive currently supports more than 1,000 farms across the UK and Ireland.

Founded by software engineers and lifelong farmers Gareth McDonald and Gareth Gordon, both under 30, the pair met as teenagers at Cullybackey College, later studying Computer Science at Queen’s University Belfast before launching farmdrive.