Vence

What Vence does

Vence, founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Diego, builds a virtual-fencing livestock management system for cattle ranchers. Its core technology is an IoT platform comprising GPS- and radio-frequency-equipped collars worn by cattle, strategically placed base stations that cover 5,000–10,000 acres each, and cloud-based software that lets ranchers create, redraw, and manage virtual boundaries for rotational grazing and environmental protection. The collars use humane audio cues paired with animal-safe electrical pulses to train cattle to respect virtual boundaries. The system is sold commercially in the United States and Australia, with pilot programs in New Zealand and Canada.

Vence monetizes through a combination of hardware sales (GPS/RF collars) and ongoing cloud-software subscriptions; pricing is not publicly disclosed and is quoted through direct sales engagement. Under Merck Animal Health ownership (acquired in 2025), the product is distributed as part of the SenseHub technology family via Merck's enterprise field-sales organization targeting cattle producers and ranchers, alongside integration with Merck's broader animal-health portfolio (SenseHub, ALLFLEX, BRAVECTO). The company also holds a registered Vence trademark.

Vence is led by a small team (11–50 employees) and was additionally funded in part by an NSF SBIR Phase I grant supporting machine-learning-enabled livestock health monitoring on top of its IoT platform. The company's customer segments are cattle ranchers and livestock producers (primary) and sustainable-agriculture operations focused on rotational grazing, soil health, and protection of environmentally sensitive areas (secondary). Cofounder Frank Wooten departed in September 2025 to lead ArkeaBio, an adjacent livestock-methane-vaccine startup.

Name

Vence

Legal name

VENCE CORP

Website

https://vence.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vence, a Merck Animal Health subsidiary founded in 2016 in San Diego, builds a virtual-fencing livestock management system using GPS/RF collars and cloud software, sold to cattle ranchers in the US, Australia, and pilots in New Zealand and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Livestock Technology

NAICS

Support Activities for Animal Production (115210), Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming, including Feedlots (11211)

SIC

Agricultural Prod-Livestock & Animal Specialties (200), Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Livestock Precision Monitoring Software (Herd/Flock Analytics, Health Alerts) (AFAAAFAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Beef Cattle Production Support Services (Fencing, Water Systems, Range Improvement) (AFAEABAM), Cattle Health & Processing Services (Branding, Vaccination, Pregnancy Checking) (AFAEABAL), Multi-site/Corporate Group Operations Platforms (Franchise/MSO Tools, Standardization) (HLAMAGAM)

Keywords

• Virtual fencing
• Precision livestock
• Cattle management
• Rotational grazing
• GPS livestock collars

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Virtual Fencing Hardware (Collars): Sale of physical collars containing GPS and RF transceivers that cattle wear. Each collar contains the technology to receive boundary signals and deliver audio/electrical cues.
2. Cloud-Based Software Subscription: Ongoing software subscription for the virtual fencing platform that manages herd movement, monitors location data, and enables ranchers to create and adjust virtual boundaries remotely.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Vence sells an integrated virtual fencing system for cattle ranchers and livestock producers, consisting of GPS- and RF-enabled animal collars, ranch-deployed base stations, and a cloud-based software subscription that lets ranchers draw and redraw virtual pasture boundaries. The collars deliver audio cues and humane electric pulses to keep cattle within designated zones, enabling rotational grazing, real-time location monitoring, and protection of environmentally sensitive areas without physical fences.

Product overview

Vence is a single unified product offering — a virtual fencing livestock management system for cattle. The system consists of GPS and radio frequency (RF) enabled collars worn by cattle, cloud-based software for managing virtual boundaries, and strategically placed base stations that cover 5,000-10,000 acres. The product enables ranchers to control cattle movement, implement rotational grazing, protect environmentally sensitive areas, and monitor animal location and activity in real-time.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SenseHub Vence Virtual Fencing System

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and flagship.

• ArkeaBiominorOthers · 23 September 2025ArkeaBio, a startup developing vaccines for livestock methane reduction, hired Frank Wooten, a Vence cofounder, as CEO. This represents talent mobility from Vence to a related agricultural technology company.
• Merck Animal HealthflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerVence operates as a subsidiary/brand of Merck Animal Health, part of the SenseHub technology family. Merck Animal Health provides global distribution, brand credibility, and R&D resources for the virtual fencing technology.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Agersens / eShepherd: eShepherd is an Australian virtual-fencing system (spun from CSIRO research) that uses solar-powered cattle collars to create GPS boundaries for rotational grazing, directly competing with Vence in Australia and adjacent markets.
• Halter: Halter is a New Zealand-based startup that offers GPS-enabled smart collars and a software platform for virtual fencing and rotational grazing of dairy and beef cattle — directly competing with Vence in the same product category and customer use case.
• NoFence: NoFence, based in Norway, pioneered virtual fencing for livestock using GPS collars with audio and electric cues, serving cattle, sheep, and goat producers in Europe — the closest international direct competitor to Vence's cattle virtual-fencing system.

Emerging players

• CattleMax: CattleMax is a cattle ranch management software platform for recordkeeping, breeding, and herd performance — a complementary software peer serving the same rancher customers as Vence.
• Moovement: Moovement provides GPS cattle tracking collars and a herd management platform for ranchers, directly competing with Vence on GPS-based location monitoring and herd analytics.
• Cainthus: Cainthus applies computer vision and AI to monitor cattle behavior, health, and feed intake from barn and pen cameras — an emerging precision-livestock player with overlapping health-monitoring capabilities to Vence's collar analytics.
• Smartbell: Smartbell is a livestock health-monitoring startup using sensors and analytics to detect illness earlier in cattle, an emerging precision-livestock competitor adjacent to Vence's health monitoring roadmap.

Broad incumbents

• Afimilk: Afimilk is a well-established dairy farm intelligence company offering cow sensors, behavior analytics, and parlor management — a broader incumbent in livestock sensor and monitoring with adjacent technology to Vence.
• Gallagher Animal Management: Gallagher is a long-established livestock technology company offering electric fencing, weighing, and electronic identification systems. It is a broad incumbent in the ranch infrastructure space where Vence's virtual fencing competes.
• Merck Animal Health SenseHub: SenseHub is Merck Animal Health's broader livestock monitoring platform with ear-tag sensors and behavior analytics, sitting alongside Vence within Merck's portfolio and serving the same customers with overlapping health-monitoring functionality.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vence_io
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/MerckAnimalHealth
• Facebookfacebook.com/venceio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/merck-animal-health?trk=company_name

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors17 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 Vence