Perth, July 31: Australian deeptech company Agscent has closed a $5 million funding round, more than doubling its valuation in 18 months to $26.9 million.
The company is developing technology that uses advanced sensors, biological signal analysis and artificial intelligence to identify and interpret chemical signatures in breath and air. Its first applications include detecting pregnancy, disease and methane emissions in livestock, but the platform has broader potential ranging from livestock productivity and environmental monitoring to a new generation of non-invasive human health diagnostics. The platform incorporates technology originally developed by NASA to monitor astronaut health and detect hazardous airborne compounds during long-duration space missions.
Founded by behavioural economist and farmer Dr Bronwyn Darlington, Agscent is built around a simple idea: if scent carries information, machines should be able to interpret it.
“Scent has guided life since evolution began. Long before we had words, we had smell — it warned us of danger, told us what was safe to eat, signalled who was healthy and who wasn’t. Animals still rely on it every day. We’re using AI to decode those signals: to build, in effect, a digital dog’s nose,” said Dr Bronwyn Darlington, Founder and Managing Director of Agscent.
Investors backing Dr Darlington’s vision include prominent family offices, agricultural investors and producers Nick Burton Taylor, Viv Oldfield and Chris Hoppe, alongside venture capital firms Scale Investors and Tundra Capital.
Agscent traces part of its origins to an unlikely place. During the COVID pandemic, while working from her farm in regional New South Wales, Dr Darlington was searching NASA’s online patent library when she came across electronic sensing technology originally developed to monitor astronaut health and detect hazardous airborne compounds during space missions. Recognising its potential, she sent NASA an email — within 24 hours, the agency had responded. That initial conversation ultimately led to Agscent licensing elements of the technology and integrating them into a sensing platform already under development.
Agscent’s early focus was cattle, where the company developed technology capable of identifying pregnancy from a cow’s breath as early as 18 days after insemination, without the need for invasive testing or veterinary intervention. Traditional pregnancy testing generally occurs around 40 days after insemination, giving producers valuable time to make breeding and herd management decisions.
The platform has since expanded into methane measurement, generating more than $2.8 million in revenue across Australia and overseas. Rather than treating methane solely as an emissions issue, Agscent uses it as a productivity metric, helping producers identify more feed-efficient animals, improve breeding decisions and increase herd performance. The technology is being deployed through Agscent’s methane measurement platform and a collaboration with Australian livestock technology company Optiweigh.
Agscent is also undertaking large-scale validation programs in the United States with Dairy Farmers of America, the country’s largest dairy cooperative representing around one-third of US dairy production, and Merck Animal Health.
While livestock remains Agscent’s initial commercial market, the platform’s long-term potential extends far beyond agriculture.
“Every person breathes. Every animal breathes. Every breath contains information. We’re building technology that can identify and interpret those biological signals in real time. We started with cows because that’s where we could test and prove the technology, but what we’re really building is a biological sensing platform. The opportunity is far bigger than agriculture. Every breath tells a story. We’re giving machines the ability to understand it,” Dr Darlington said.
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