Vence
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Vence is a San Diego-based AgTech startup founded in 2016 by co-founder and CEO Frank Wooten. It fits wearable collars to cattle to create 'virtual fences,' letting ranchers rotationally graze their herds without investing in physical fencing — a major cost for livestock farmers transitioning to regenerative agriculture. The platform combines industrial IoT, data and machine learning, cutting labor costs by about 25% and helping carbon sequestration.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Vence was born in San Diego to develop virtual fencing wearables for cattle based on USDA and MIT research.
- Seed funding
The company raised $2.7 million in a round led by Eniac Ventures with Rabobank's venture arm participating.
- Series A and strategic funding
Vence raised a $12 million Series A led by Tyche Partners, plus a few million more in strategic funding from the venture arms of Merck & Co and Shell, partnering with both to scale its offering.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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