Ruminant Biotech Closes $17M NZD Series A
Plus: Blackpearl Group goes live on ASX as global growth accelerates
Kia ora Caffeinators,
Happy Wednesday afternoon. The shine is absolutely beaming where I am and I hope the view out of your window is something similar. There’s some mighty raise news today to headline your Daily Shot along with some great success across the Tasman and one more even you should add to the calendar.
Here’s what’s brewing:
Ruminant Biotech Closes $17M NZD Series A
Event: Fourth Quarter Business & Technology Disruption Briefing 2025 with Francis Valentine
Blackpearl Group goes live on ASX as global growth accelerates
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or simply recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Finn and the CAFFEINE team
Ruminant Biotech Closes $17M NZD Series A: As I mentioned last week, I had a great chat with Tom Breen from Ruminant Biotech recently but what I didn’t mention was actual news hook for that interview. The New Zealand-founded agritech company just closed a $17M NZD Series A investment round to further develop its world leading methane reduction solution.
The core value prop is a pill fed to cattle which can reduce methane emissions by around 75% for 100 days. It hardly needs explaining how massive that could be for the agriculture industry considering methane emissions from ruminant livestock make up approximately 6% of total global human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than global aviation, shipping and rail transport combined.
The round was co-led by Rosrain Investments and Cultivate Ventures, with additional investment from Marex and follow-on funding from AgriZeroNZ.
Speaking to Caffeine, Breen explained what the funds unlock.
“First, the ability to commercialise next year — launching the first product in Australia and New Zealand will be the primary use of funds. Second, building our global opportunity — regulatory trials in global markets and segment expansion into other animal types. Third, continuing our technology pipeline. We have an incredible pipeline, and now we can progress the highest-priority work.”
To prepare for its commercial launch, Ruminant Biotech has commissioned a multi-million-dollar pilot manufacturing facility in New Zealand which will have the capacity to produce up to one million doses annually for ANZ Markets.
By 2035, Ruminant Biotech aims to have 100 million cows treated with its solution globally. Congratulations to the team. Check back next week for a deeper dive with Tom about the path to reaching that 100m figure.
Event: Fourth Quarter Business & Technology Disruption Briefing 2025 with Francis Valentine - The year is nearly done but that doesn’t mean we can slack off upskilling in the areas we need to crack 2026. This event is open to all with an internet connection and its long enough after our Christmas party than you’ll have recovered so there’s no excuse. Join academyEX founder and renowned futurist, Frances Valintine for the popular Quarterly Briefing to keep ahead of groundbreaking trends in Business and Technology Disruption. With her expertise in global trends, Frances will unpack the future of technology, sustainability, and education, and introduce you to the game-changing AI tools you didn’t even know you needed. Check out more details and reserve your ticket here.
Blackpearl Group goes live on ASX as global growth accelerates: We’ve chatted about Blackpearl group a few times on Caffeine and they keep giving us good reason to do so. They’re now seeing some surging success across the ditch as as they commence trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). It’s a major marker of international growth strategy and solidifying its position as one of the fastest-scaling data and AI technology companies.
CEO Nick Lissette says today’s listing is a logical evolution for the company. “This is an intentionally bold move because Blackpearl was engineered from day one for a global market. A bigger market with deeper liquidity and a global investor audience is exactly the scale our technology is meant to accelerate into at this point in time. We’ve engineered the Pearl Engine for a global runway and today is the ignition point,” believes Lissette.
Blackpearl enters the ASX with some impressive numbers proving momentum. Annual recurring revenue rose to $19.5m, up 87 percent year on year. $253k ARR per employee and fourth consecutive half of ARR growth.
Earlier this year, Blackpearl acquired US-based AI outbound sales platform B2B Rocket, adding proven autonomous prospecting capability and expanding the Group’s presence in the world’s largest SMB market.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co
The Ruminant Biotech raise is exciting given the scale of the methane problem. 6% of global emissions from livestock alone is wild. If they can hit that 100 million cows target by 2035, the impact wuld be massive. Curious to see how the commercial rollout goes next year in ANZ and whether farmers adopt it quickly.