Providing New Sensor Tracking for Animal Welfare - Ian Sanders, Transport Genie

With Demo Day on the horizon, the Food Innovation cohort is preparing for the final stages of the program. October 13th is coming fast so the SBC team decided to head down to Tasmania to check in with their FoodTech entrepreneurs.

One of the entrepreneurs we caught up with was Ian Sanders, the very first local Tasmanian employee, and local Director for Transport Genie. Founded by Joel Sotomayor, Transport Genie provides peace of mind to farmers, food companies, and consumers that livestock is treated humanely during transport. In the interview, Ian dives into the importance of ethically sourced livestock and the valuable impact Transport Genie is working to create in the food industry.

When it comes to the fair treatment of animals, facility information around the farming and the final destination of the animals exists, but nothing is known about their welfare during transportation. That piece of the journey is currently a black box. Transport Genie has developed specialised sensors that work to better understand what is happening during that time in order to move animals in a more ethical and reliable manner.

The specifically designed sensors work by tracking the humidity and temperature in the vehicle and sending that information to the driver and the owners of the animals to make the necessary adjustments. The sensors are durable, wired to the animal trailers and are connected to a bluetooth link box. This ensures there is consistent monitoring even through rural locations - which is some pretty snazzy technology!

SBC’s support and the mentors that have worked with the Transport Genie team over the past 3 months have greatly influenced their journey. Joel and Ian have refined their overall company message and been able to pitch their mission to upcoming investors. With demo day coming up, the Transport Genie team is hoping to showcase their final pitch to industry experts, the Tasmanian government and investors that will help scale their production, bring in more employees to support work, and increase production at a local level.

Interested in seeing Transport Genie's pitch?

Register for in-person here: https://lu.ma/cim1gco3

Register for on-line here: https://www.startupbootcamp.com.au/demo-day/fi22