Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list, now in its seventh year recognizing founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2022’s companies. Click here to view the full list of Startups to Watch — presented by sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Shekhar Gupta doesn’t have the typical “cowboy” look, he teased, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing his technical skills to the ranch.
“I’ve never been the type of person who sits behind the desk. I like to go out and talk with potential customers and learn from them,” said Gupta, the founder of MyAnIML. “I also have advisors who are fifth- and sixth-generation ranchers; my lead salesperson is a fifth-generation rancher, so I’ve surrounded myself with people who can guide me and tell me what does and doesn’t work.”
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Elevator pitch: MyAnIML developed an AI-powered, early disease prediction system for animals through face analysis.
- Founder: Shekhar Gupta
- Founding year: 2021
- Current employee count: 5
- Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
- Noteworthy investors: Harry Campbell, Nathan Leiker, Juan Ramos
- Programs completed: Techstars Kansas City
MyAnIML utilizes computer vision to analyze the face and muzzle of a cow to predict disease in the animal. Gupta calls his state-of-the-art technology “a new way to manage diseases.”
The bovine industry loses billions of dollars each year in diseases and deaths, but through his technology, farmers can separate and treat an ill cow before the sickness spreads, he said.
“For example, mastitis is a disease in dairy cows that destroys their milk. If it’s not caught early on, the disease can spread to other cows,” Gupta explained. “It costs a dairy farmer over $450 per cow per incident, in addition to them throwing all the milk away. That’s a very real challenge to a farm, and one of the big reasons I decided to come into this industry.”
Click here to read more about why Shekhar Gupta founded MyAnIML.
Initially developed to predict skin and respiratory diseases, MyAnIML continued to do what had never been done before: catch internal distress, Gupta shared.
“Pinkeye was our proof of concept, but then we were starting to get pictures of a uterus infection,” Gupta recalled. “… I realized that the muzzle is catching all the stress the animal is going through.”
After proving his technology to be successful in July 2021, Gupta foresees 2022 as a major growth year for MyAnIML.
“[2021] was our product development year,” he noted. “Now, we’re anticipating several openings and then several positions filled. We anticipate close to a little over a million dollars in [annual recurring revenue] by the end of 2022 as well.”
Andrew Branstetter, Lead Sales Officer; Swati Narang, Chief Data Scientist;
Shekhar Gupta, founder;
Ryan McNair, Solutions Architect
The MyAnIML team is spreading its technology throughout Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma — but the Heartland is just the starting point, Gupta said.
“Since our solution is mostly a software solution, it could be launched pretty much anywhere,” he explained. “Over the next year, I am meeting with a few clients from overseas. The goal is to launch in places like Switzerland and Ireland, close to the mid-to-end of next year.”
MyAnIML is not limited to location, nor species of animals, Gupta concluded.
“Toward the end of 2022, we’re going to start looking at cats and dogs as well,” Gupta shared. “How cool would that be to download an app on your phone, take a picture of your dog or cat and then find out if something bad is going to happen to your loved animals? People would be able to take him or her to the veterinarian before it’s too late.”
The Kansas City Startups Watch in 2022 list is made possible by presenting sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, though independently produced by Startland News.
With its headquarters in Kansas City — and more than 800 attorneys across 25 U.S. locations, including its virtual office, The Link — Husch Blackwell’s industry-centric approach and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion work give the firm a deep understanding of what its clients face every day.
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Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2022
• afloat
• Approach
• Interplay
• Kenzen
• Lula
• MyANIMl
• Particle Space
• SOFTwarfare
• Venboo
• VinCue
Startups to Watch is now in its seventh year, thanks to ongoing support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
