Dyneval improving the sustainability of farming

Dyneval is delighted to announce that it has secured total funding of over £1.8M to establish a new quality control standard for semen analysis that will benefit users across the livestock production chain.  

As part of the funding round Dyneval secured a £575K grant from InnovateUK under the Transforming Food Production Series A Investor Partnership. Securing lead investor support from Jim Dobson of Cottagequinn Enterprises Ltd within the Series A Partnership, and through a collaborative funding investment round led by Kelvin Capital and supported by Par Equity, Gabriel Investments and Scottish Enterprise a further £1.293m of equity investment was raised.  

 Jim Dobson, the co-founder and former CEO of Dunbia, which he grew from a small butchers shop in the 1970s to one of Northern Ireland’s most successful private companies, exporting to over 50 countries worldwide said ‘Dyneval met our criteria of being an early-stage company, looking for smart money with a focus on a solution that is a clear win for agri production, not only in the UK, but globally. We look forward to an exciting journey with a great team in Dyneval as they aim to address key challenges in the agri-food supply chain’.

Over the past 40 years, conception rates in cattle have fallen by 20% and this is costing the average UK dairy farmer over £37k each year.  To assess semen quality on farm, vets rely on visual assessment using an optical microscope and data has shown that veterinary assessment can vary by as much as 40% so that vets err on the side of caution when advising farmers.   

The Dynescan, from Dyneval, is a portable instrument that provides reliable measurements of semen quality on the farm so that damaged or inferior quality semen can be discarded to ensure that only top quality semen is used for reproduction.  This will save many cows from returning for insemination, improving their welfare while improving the operational efficiency of farms.  

Predictions indicate that if conception rates can be elevated by 27%, the carbon footprint of farming could be reduced by up to 20% [Garnsworthy, Animal Feed Science and Technology, 112, 2004].   Improving the sustainability of farming is a win-win-win, it helps farmers, improves animal welfare and is better for the environment.   

Dyneval was incorporated in April 2020, winning the Glasgow Biocity Accelerator in 2020.  Experienced entrepreneur and engineer Richard Cooper took the helm as Chairman and guided the founders through raising investment and product development.  

In May 2021, the team gained confidence after winning the IBioIC Edge award of £100K at the Scottish Edge competition which helped them to develop their first product through subcontracting Scottish-based companies, i4pd, Firefinch Software and Albacom.  

 Dyneval plans to launch its first product, the ‘Dynescan’, in January 2022.The founders, Dr Tiffany Wood and Dr Vincent Martinez, met at the University of Edinburgh and both have a background in the physics of complex fluids which are ‘liquids with bits in them’.  

Dr Vincent Martinez, CTO, published over 22 articles on the motion of motile microorganisms such as bacteria, algae and spermatozoa while working with Professor Wilson Poon and Dr Jochen Arlt at the University of Edinburgh.  Dr Vincent Martinez said, ‘Dyneval’s technology is completely innovative so, for the first time, users can measure the mean speed of spermatozoa across the range of concentrations, from the low concentration of sex-sorted semen to the high concentrations of fresh semen. 

Dyneval is now recruiting for a number of exciting roles across the business that will enable the team to accelerate growth from 3 to 10 employees within the next few months as it launches its first product in January 2022 and extends integration of its technology into other platforms.  

These roles include a Veterinary Commercial Lead, Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Project Manager and various IT roles including a Senior Software Lead, Full-Stack Software Developer and a Data Engineer.  

Please contact Tiffany Wood for further information e: tiffany.wood@dyneval.com or view Careers with Dyneval