Barnwell Bio, a precision animal health intelligence company, today announced it has raised $6 million in seed funding to scale its metagenomic biosurveillance system, a platform that provides poultry producers and stakeholders across the poultry supply chain with an early warning window against emerging disease threats.

The round was led by Twelve Below, with participation from Max Ventures, Dorm Room Fund, Banter Capital, Planeteer Capital, AgVentures Alliance, Daybreak Ventures, Alumni Ventures and AgLaunch Farmers. Founded by the team that helped build the nation's COVID-19 wastewater monitoring infrastructure, Barnwell Bio is unlocking barn-level data to drive profitability and biosecurity in an era of rising regulatory pressure and global disease challenges.

The capital will be used to scale Barnwell's footprint across the US poultry belt, focusing on the Midwest and Southeast. Beyond geographic expansion, the company is investing heavily in its proprietary metagenomic insights engine. Unlike traditional tests that look for a single pathogen, Barnwell's platform captures the entire microbial ecosystem of a barn, translating hundreds of thousands of data points into a "microbiome fingerprint" unique to each facility. Building on its existing foundation, Barnwell is utilizing this capital to scale its technical capabilities. The investment accelerates expansion efforts, allowing the company to recruit premier talent in bioinformatics, data science and AI/ML to deliver actionable, predictive intelligence to producers.

"We saw in human health that data is the missing link between guessing and knowing," said Michael Rhys, co-founder and CEO of Barnwell Bio. "In the poultry industry, veterinarians often must rely on limited diagnostics and their own intuition, lacking full visibility into the barn's unique, complex microbial ecosystem. We are thrilled to have the backing of investors who understand that barn-level intelligence makes producers more profitable and gives them the confidence to manage flocks sustainably."

The investment comes as the $315 billion global poultry market faces a "perfect storm" of regulatory and biological pressures. Producers are caught between stringent USDA and FDA mandates—which prioritize the elimination of routine antibiotics—and the increasing threat of infectious diseases like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The ongoing bird flu crisis has already cost the U.S. economy over $14 billion in 2024-2025 alone. Barnwell Bio's platform addresses these challenges by detecting pathogens before clinical symptoms appear, allowing for "gold-standard" biosecurity without sacrificing profitability.

"Barnwell Bio is applying proven data infrastructure to a massive, underserved market," said Byron Ling, partner at Twelve Below. "The team's experience in scaling national biosurveillance is unparalleled. They are building the essential data layer for the future of animal protein production."

"We're guessing, and that's the frustrating part," said Liz Beilke, DVM, MPH of West Liberty Foods. "For vets managing dozens of barns, getting to the bottom of a disease issue can be a process of trial and error. Barnwell's microbiome intelligence can provide more clarity to intervene with precision."

"In our team's time scaling the nation's wastewater monitoring infrastructure, we saw how powerful of a leading indicator it can be," said Casey McGinley, co-founder and chief operating officer of Barnwell Bio. "By shifting the focus from individual sick birds to the entire environment, we can flag a pathogen spike weeks before it becomes a crisis; our aim is to provide the producers working to feed the world with a powerful tool to do so."

"Conventional testing asks, 'Is this specific pathogen present?'," said co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Jake Byrnes. "Our platform asks, 'What's the complete health story of this barn?' That's transformative. We're not just detecting disease faster. We're providing the comprehensive microbial intelligence that lets veterinarians and producers move from reactive firefighting to proactive flock management."

Barnwell Bio is already seeing significant traction through working with Mississippi State University, West Liberty Foods, Vital Farms, and more. The company will be showcasing its platform and recent data insights at the International Production & Processing Expo in Atlanta this January. To schedule a meeting, please contact Michael Rhys at hello@barnwellbio.com or visit booth B21053.

Source: Barnwell Bio