The dynamic field of technology witnesses disruptive innovations on a daily basis. Wearable technology is one of the recent breakthroughs in this sector with smart watches, smart clothing, and even smart jewellery changing the way we use technology in our lives.
Stellapps Technologies, in keeping with the disruptive spirit of the world of technology, has taken things a step further by introducing the combined power of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, data analytics and most importantly, wearables to the Dairy Industry. So if you thought wearables were only for humans, think again. The cows have joined the trend.
For the Animal Spirits
Stellapps Technologies’ innovative applications leverage technology to target the agri-supply chain by enabling the monitoring of production and procurement of milk, animal insurance, and farmer payments. Its focus market includes cooperatives, dairy farmers, milk unions, dairy equipment manufacturers, and private dairies.
While India is the largest consumer of milk, accounting for 16{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of the global milk production, the techniques used in the industry are highly obsolete. Moreover, the industry is highly fragmented with the average cattle size being that of 2 -3 milch cattle and the average farmer being categorised as small or medium sized. India has the highest number of farms and cows in the world, but some of the worst productivity levels with the regular dairy farmer working more than the average professional and yet failing to bring in profits.
Stellapps Technologies has done its research and is well aware of the revolution that technological intervention could bring to the Dairy Vertical. Focusing intently on the milk production stage and keeping an arms’ length from the marketing of the produce, Stellapps is providing multiple, knowledge-based automated solutions to optimise the milk production process while maintaining a check on the cattle’s health.
The Journey
Stellapps Technologies’ 5 co-founders have known each other since their very first job at WIPRO. Bound by their common entrepreneurial ambition, the need to ‘work towards the improvement of life’, it was in their late 30s and early 40s that they realised that ‘if not now, then never’. Frequent discussions helped them to filter their options to something in the fields of agriculture and health, which was further narrowed down to the niche dairy sector.
None of them had a background in agriculture or dairy and had to spend quite some time doing their homework. Their lack of prior knowledge turned out to be a blessing in disguise rather than a handicap as it lent them a fresh perspective, enabling them to come up with innovative solutions.
Products and technology
Stellapps’ products are designed to optimise the entire chain of milk production process right from setting up the correct infrastructure and housing facilities for the cattle to the power requirements for the construction and operation of the biogas plants. The SmartMoo application is an end-to-end farm services product which focuses on fresh milk production, improvement of productivity, protocols, cost optimisation, and real-time data use.
It includes SmartAMS which is a milk line built automatic milking systems and Smart BMC which is the finest milk chilling apparatus with mobile and internet empowered management. It also includes End to end farm setup services, Farm Layout Design & Modeling, Bio Gas setup for off-grid farm power and Consulting for productivity improvement and input cost optimisation
Other products include smartFarms which is a cloud-based farm and herd management system, ConTrak which enables internet based, real-time management of cold-chain and many others.
Stellapps Technologies has been set up with the motive of its co-founders to do some good in the world. Hence, it aims to work with the farmer and make profits only when the farmer makes the same. Their revenue is derived from a fixed portion per litre of milk which allows Stellapps to cover its cost and the farmer to not feel the pinch.
Globally too Stellapps is very competitive when compared to similar players in other countries. This is because their pricing includes the entire budget right from the infrastructure development to the milking and storage. The data collected from the sensors is directly transmitted to the veterinary experts, and the analysis takes place in the cloud.
Expansion
Founded in April 2011, Stellapps Technologies is today India’s first Dairy Technology Solutions Company. Nurtured at IIT-Madras ‘Rural Technology Business Incubator’ and funded by Omnivore Partners, Stellapps has managed to carve out space for itself and currently has 200 customers pan India which includes many Tier one customers along with several small customers.
The company has also spread its good work across the globe by selling its solutions to a Dutch company for deployment in Kenya and has sales in Nepal through its North Indian Partners. A majority of the well-known names of the Indian and Foreign dairy names are clients of this start-up such as Hatsun, Heritage, Thirumala, Haldiram, Akshayakalpa, Prabhat Dairy, KMF, AAVIN, MILMA, Shri Laligurams (Nepal) and Smart Dairy (Netherlands).
LSI Keywords: cloud computing, data analytics, wearables to the Dairy Industry, Farm Layout Design & Modeling, Bio Gas setup for off-grid farm power and Consulting for productivity improvement
