Barnwell Bio

What Barnwell Bio does

Barnwell Bio is a precision animal health intelligence company founded in 2024 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company applies shotgun metagenomic sequencing to environmental samples collected from poultry barns — primarily via a proprietary "boot sock" swabbing method — to detect pathogens, virulence genes, and antimicrobial resistance markers weeks before clinical symptoms appear. Results are delivered through a software dashboard that provides farm-specific pathogen risk scores, longitudinal microbiome fingerprints, and benchmarking against historical and contemporaneous samples.

The platform serves U.S. poultry producers across layers, broilers, breeders, and turkeys, with named commercial partners including Amick Farms, Vital Farms, and West Liberty Foods, plus academic collaborators at Mississippi State University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The company generates revenue through annual enterprise subscriptions for ongoing biosurveillance and pay-as-you-go on-demand targeted investigation kits with a 7-day turnaround. Go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales targeting the U.S. Midwest and Southeast poultry belt, supplemented by conference presence (IPPE, Poultry Tech Summit) and content marketing.

The founding team (CEO Michael Rhys, COO Casey McGinley, CSO Jake Byrnes) all previously built COVID-19 wastewater surveillance infrastructure at Biobot Analytics, and the company has raised a $6M seed round led by Twelve Below (January 2026) plus a ~$150,000 FFAR grant to extend the platform to H5N1 avian influenza detection. Current scale is small (1–10 employees) with revenue not publicly disclosed.

Name

Barnwell Bio

Legal name

Barnwell Bio, Inc.

Website

https://barnwellbio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Barnwell Bio applies shotgun metagenomic sequencing to environmental samples from poultry barns, detecting pathogens weeks before clinical symptoms appear. The Brooklyn-based company sells subscription biosurveillance and on-demand investigation kits to U.S. poultry producers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Livestock Biosurveillance

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Veterinary Microbiology & Infectious Disease Testing (Culture/PCR/Serology) (HLAMADAC)

Keywords

• Poultry biosurveillance
• Metagenomic sequencing services
• Animal health monitoring
• Pathogen detection platform
• Farm microbiome analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based Biosurveillance Service: Barnwell Bio provides ongoing biosurveillance monitoring through regular sample collection and analysis, delivered via dashboard subscription. Producers receive continuous pathogen monitoring, early warning alerts, and trend analysis for their poultry operations.
2. On-Demand Targeted Investigation Kits: The company offers on-demand sampling kits that can be deployed when producers or veterinarians need deeper insight into specific flock health issues. Results delivered within 7 days of submission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Barnwell Bio provides a continuous metagenomic sequencing-based biosurveillance platform that analyzes environmental samples (collected via boot socks) from poultry barns to detect pathogens, antimicrobial resistance genes, and shifts in the barn microbiome weeks before clinical symptoms appear. Insights are delivered to poultry producers, veterinarians, and feed/treatment companies through a proprietary software dashboard with pathogen risk scores, alerts, and longitudinal tracking. On-demand targeted investigation kits are available for specific flock health investigations with seven-day turnaround.

Product overview

Barnwell Bio offers a comprehensive biosurveillance platform for poultry health monitoring. The core offering combines environmental sampling via boot sock collection with shotgun metagenomic sequencing to detect pathogens weeks before clinical symptoms appear. Users access insights through a proprietary dashboard delivering actionable pathogen risk data, alerts, and longitudinal microbiome tracking. The platform serves Layers, Broilers, Breeders, and Turkeys, with on-demand targeted investigation kits available for specific flock health questions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Barnwell Bio Biosurveillance Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Pathogen detection up to 3 weeks before clinical symptoms appear (demonstrated with crop mycosis detection)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Mississippi State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Academic research partner demonstrating Barnwell Bio's biosurveillance platform. Collaborating on real-world validation of the technology in commercial poultry operations.
• West Liberty FoodscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Meat and poultry processor partner for platform demonstration and commercial validation of biosurveillance technology.
• Vital FarmscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Egg producer partner exploring pathogen trends and effectiveness of management strategies using Barnwell Bio's monitoring platform.
• Amick FarmscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Breeder farm partner working with Barnwell Bio on Focal Ulcerative Dermatitis Syndrome (FUDS) monitoring, litter amendment testing, and intervention optimization. Staff veterinarian Dr. Jason Sousa collaborates on product use cases.
• AgLaunch365 AcceleratorcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Barnwell Bio participated in the AgLaunch365 two-year accelerator program connecting startups with farmers and industry experts. The program provides farm trial opportunities and farmer network access. Farmers participating in trials can earn equity stakes in companies.
• University of Wisconsin - Madison (Dr. Steven Ricke)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Research collaboration established in early 2024 with poultry health expert Dr. Steven Ricke. Conducting foundational studies on litter microbiome variation by barn location and comparing different environmental sample types. UW researchers have presented findings at industry conferences.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BioChek: BioChek is a veterinary diagnostics company specializing in PCR-based test kits and software for poultry and swine disease detection. It directly competes with Barnwell Bio in pathogen diagnostics for poultry producers using molecular methods.
• Clear Labs: Clear Labs applies next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics to food and ingredient safety testing, including pathogen detection. Its NGS-based approach to identifying pathogens in complex samples is the closest technical analogue to Barnwell's metagenomic platform.

Broad incumbents

• IDEXX Laboratories: IDEXX is the dominant veterinary diagnostics company for companion and production animals, offering PCR, ELISA, and reference lab services. It serves many of the same poultry veterinarians and integrated producers Barnwell targets, but through traditional single-pathogen assays rather than environmental metagenomics.
• Zoetis: Zoetis is the largest global animal health company, providing diagnostics, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals across livestock species. Its diagnostics arm overlaps with Barnwell Bio's poultry health monitoring use cases, though delivered through conventional test kits and reference labs.
• Neogen Corporation: Neogen provides genomics-based testing and animal safety diagnostics, including poultry pathogen detection. Its molecular diagnostics footprint and food animal customer base make it a relevant incumbent analogue, though it sells kits rather than a recurring surveillance platform.
• Elanco Animal Health: Elanco is a major animal health company offering pharmaceuticals and diagnostics for production animals including poultry. It competes indirectly through integrated health solutions sold to the same enterprise poultry customers.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher supplies the sequencing instruments, reagents, and bioinformatics tools (e.g., Ion Torrent, Applied Biosystems) underpinning metagenomic workflows. While not a direct competitor, its enabling technology and applied markets overlap with Barnwell's platform stack.
• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Bio-Rad is a life science and clinical diagnostics company with a meaningful presence in veterinary and food safety testing. Its molecular diagnostic kits and lab services target some of the same production-animal use cases as Barnwell Bio.
• Phibro Animal Health: Phibro develops and markets vaccines, antibiotics, and nutritional specialty products for poultry and livestock. Its deep relationships with poultry integrators overlap with Barnwell's customer base, particularly through feed and treatment company channels.

Others

• Kemin Industries: Kemin provides animal nutrition and health ingredients for poultry and livestock producers. It is identified by Barnwell Bio as a target customer segment (Feed & Treatment Companies) and represents a partner/distribution channel for validating feed additive efficacy using microbiome data.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/barnwellbio
• Xx.com/BarnwellBio
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Barnwell Bio