Peter Thiel's big bet on solar-powered cow collars
Founders Fund has made its name backing what Peter Thiel calls 'zero to one' companies — businesses that don't just improve on existing ideas but create something entirely new. Its portfolio includes Facebook, SpaceX, and Palantir. Its latest bet is a New Zealand startup that
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Peter Thiel's big bet on solar-powered cow collars. Founders Fund has made its name backing what Peter Thiel calls "zero to one" companies — businesses that don't just improve on existing ideas but create something entirely new. Its portfolio includes Facebook, SpaceX, and Palantir. Its latest bet is a New Zealand startup that puts solar-powered smart collars on cows. Halter , which closed a $220 million Series E at a $2 billion valuation last month, with Founders Fund leading the round, isn't the kind of company that tends to dominate technology headlines. There is no agentic AI involved, no humanoid robots.
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There is, however, a very large and largely unsolved problem: How do you manage cattle spread across some of the most remote terrain on earth, without dogs, horses, motorbikes, or helicopters? Craig Piggott, Halter's 30-year-old founder and CEO, has spent nine years working on an answer. "If you manage a pasture-based farm, whether it's dairy or beef, the most important variable is how you manage the productivity of your land," Piggott told TechCrunch in a recent interview. "Fences are the.
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"Then you're able to guide them and shift them around on sound and vibration alone." The collar does more than herd. Because it is always on and collecting behavioral data, it also tracks animal health, monitors fertility cycles, and flags when individual animals may be sick, capabilities that Piggott says have improved dramatically as Halter has accumulated what is likely the world's largest dataset of cattle behavior. The company is now on its fifth generation of hardware, and its reproduction.
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"Realizing you could raise money, hire a team, and chase an ambitious mission was inspiring. I wanted to do that in agriculture." He started Halter at 21. "Probably a bit naive in hindsight," he acknowledged, "but that was fine." Techcrunch event Disrupt 2026: The tech ecosystem, all in one room Your next round. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions,.
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