Bork’s company Mastaplex was one of only five start-ups whittled down from 90 candidates to present to investors at the international event and the only New Zealand company.
Bork was seeking about $2 million to kick-start his mastitis diagnostic equipment’s entry into the lucrative European Union market, having already gained a good foothold in the Australian and NZ dairy industries.
The diagnostic machine can analyse milk infected with mastitis, determine the type of bacteria and what antibiotic should be used to cure it, all in under 24 hours.
Over 40% of NZ dairy vet clinics already have the device and farmers are finding the $1000 price tag worth it.
“So what getting the investor on board means is we will have access to the 23 million cows in the EU needing effective diagnostic equipment, particularly given the EU’s focus on reducing antibiotic resistance with 70% of total antibiotics used being for animal treatment.”
His company also has the support of one of Europe’s top 10 animal health distribution companies for getting the machine into the market.
“NZ proved to be the ideal test country to validate what we were doing with the machine, with good herd sizes, a good vet infrastructure and contact with end users, the farmers.”
The machine is proving invaluable in determining not only the type of mastitis infection but sometimes even whether mastitis is the problem.
“For 20% of the time it may not be mastitis bacteria causing the infection. This test helps ensure a more informed decision is made.”
It has internet connectivity to ensure both the farmer and vet are alerted when the test results are known.
Bork, a German-trained process engineer, said the main intellectual property for the device is in the unique assay cartridge that holds the milk sample. It is a key reason why the company wants to keep its production based close to home in Dunedin, he said.
