Verility Inc. Validates AI Fertility Tech

Verility Inc. has successfully validated its AI-based fertility analytics technology, Fertile-Eyez™, through a significant 400-sow study conducted in 2024. Results demonstrated that the Fertile-Eyez technology could match traditional breeding protocols in achieving pregnancy and embryo rates, while simultaneously requiring fewer semen doses, heat tests, and boar exposure days. This advancement led to overall reductions in labor within breeding systems.

Liane Hart, CEO of Verility and an alumnus of Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, articulated the financial benefits associated with this new technology, highlighting a 1.6 return on investment for swine breeders and producers. The study indicated that utilizing the Fertile-Eyez technology would necessitate only 1.15 inseminations per sow on average, compared to the conventional requirement of two inseminations per sow. This finding underscores the potential for a single insemination using Fertile-Eyez to be as effective as the traditional double insemination method.

Hart outlined several benefits that emerged from using Fertile-Eyez for sow insemination, including:

• A 40% reduction in semen doses.
• A 45% reduction in boar heat tests.
• A 20% reduction in boar exposure days.
• A 38% pregnancy rate in nonstanding heat sows, which are typically not inseminated due to perceived non-productivity.
• A 24% reduction in overall system labor and a decrease in nonproductive sow days.
• An impressive 91% overall conception rate.

Hart noted that these results could particularly benefit settings where pregnancy rates fall below expectations, additionally emphasizing the opportunity to leverage high-indexing boar semen to promote genetic improvement within herds.

AcuFast, who partnered with Verility for the study, provided oversight and resources. Amanda Minton, AcuFast’s swine reproductive solutions manager, expressed her enthusiasm about the results achieved, stating that such consistent positive outcomes with ovulation interventions had not been previously observed. Notably, she highlighted that Fertile-Eyez functions as a diagnostic tool that aligns with the animals’ natural biology, contrasting with hormonal methods which often involve more invasive approaches.

Following the successful validation study, Verility secured the final portion of a $4 million funding round from Mountain Group Partners in Nashville. Rob Readnour, managing director at MGP, expressed optimism regarding Verility’s potential to revolutionize production animal fertility and enhance efficiency while accelerating genetic progress in the industry.

Looking ahead, Hart plans to present the study’s findings to breeders and producers to augment Verility’s growth. The focus will shift towards customer trials throughout 2025 and into 2026, alongside efforts to finalize a Series A-2 funding round in July to support initial commercialization efforts.

Verility boasts exclusive licensing rights to an array of intellectual property originally developed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in collaboration with leading researchers. This technology has now been validated for multiple species and applications, empowering users through innovative AI-driven solutions for ovulation detection and semen analysis.

As Verility begins to market Fertile-Eyez with an emphasis on ovulation analytics, Hart succinctly described the sow ovulation market as the “Holy Grail” of animal breeding, acknowledging the inherent complexities and biological variability in the process. The company aspires to simplify and enhance the traditional methods of determining insemination timing, utilizing cutting-edge technology and data to improve efficiency and profitability for breeders.

Located in Maxwell, Indiana, Verility Inc. aims to disrupt the animal health sector by optimizing breeding and fertility through artificial intelligence. More information about the company is available online.