Made in Scotland: iLivestock puts Scottish Agri-Tech on the world stage
Blending the best of both worlds, Agri-Tech firm, iLiveStock, is securing international markets through its strong pedigree in innovative technologies.
7 March 2025 | 6 minute read
“We have 'made in Scotland' branded across all our hardware and software products because people imagine this is what Scotland means.”
These are the powerful words of Ewen Wardman, CEO and Co-Founder of iLivestock. They speak volumes about his burgeoning Agri-Tech business.
Based in Rosyth, Fife, it sells Scotland’s brand and product innovation to the world.
Together, both credentials do the talking.
Super sales of niche technology
iLivestock’s platform technology enables farmers to be more sustainable and profitable, from compliance to breeding and weighing. From a standing start pre-Covid, the firm’s order books have sky-rocketed – it envisages a £5.8 million turnover for the 2026/27 financial year.
Its niche technologies include farm software, a weigh indicator, an EID reader and load bars. These are driving huge demand from farmers and commercial partners located in Latin America, Canada, Spain, Turkey and France. And now the company is in negotiations with a wider customer base in Europe.
Striking a market sweet spot
The system is designed to weigh beef cattle and sheep, and importantly, the products are all developed and controlled in-house by the company.
iLivestock has struck a market sweet spot through its full suite of products that are low cost yet highly-versatile. This offers considerable appeal to beef and sheep producers around the world, many of whom are unaware of lost time. Producers who still record livestock weights manually can lose up to eight hours a week, says Ewen.
The benefits to global customers buying from Scotland are much broader. Accurate weighing helps farmers to avoid fines, secure subsidies, simplify record-keeping – and also reduce the chances of slaughterhouse penalties.
All these benefits mean iLivestock’s products are highly sought after.
Forging global partnerships
Signing with seven large commercial partners in seven countries proves iLivestock’s unique selling proposition. It also demonstrates the brand appeal with products developed entirely in Scotland.
The nation’s Agri-Tech industry, which encompasses animal health, agricultural technology and aquaculture, is a significant part of Scotland’s £10.5 billion life sciences sector.
Ewen enthuses: “There are so many benefits for international partners doing business with a Scottish Agri-Tech firm. This includes the agility to change direction to suit market demand. The majority of our electronics are made in Dunfermline. Scotland has a big tech and manufacturing sector.”
The company’s team of 18 comprises a broad cross-section of sales, marketing, operational and software engineering professionals. They are ambassadors for Scotland and the firm’s wider UK’s multidisciplinary talent pool.
Critically, Ewen believes the company’s international success is driven by its “Brand Scotland” ethos, and not just about how people view the nation’s technology space.
All this thrives on solid relationships. Every time Ewen travels abroad he carries distillery-bought whisky, and shot glasses that are used as a toast at every meeting. Combining Scottish heritage with technically advanced products runs through the veins of iLivestock.
How have we supported iLivestock?
Scottish Enterprise's international team helped pave the way for the company to explore markets around the world.
We first engaged with the company at the end of 2023, providing support for the Turkish market in March 2024. In June that year, a Latin American delegation visited iLivestock in Scotland, which included a trip to the Royal Highland Show and a business session in our office.
In September 2024, iLivestock was introduced to Grupo RIA (Argentina) and other partners through programmes, including Innovate UK. That same month, we also hosted iLivestock at the two-day Animal Health, Agri-Tech and Aquaculture A3 conference in Inverness.
The firm raised £1.3 million capital from Scottish Enterprise across two tranches in 2024 and 2025.
Dr John Semple, International Trade Specialist explains: “Our role has been about connecting people and sharing knowledge. We specialise in helping companies like iLivestock explore captive global markets. This opens up new opportunities both for buyers – but also for the company. These are the types of partnerships everyone thrives on.”
iLivestock is alive, kicking and is already achieving international acclaim.
In early 2025, it won an award in each of the following categories: the first was the Global Export Impact Award, the second, the Innovation: Animal Health, Agritech & Aquaculture Award.
So where does the innovator go from here?
Contact us
Learn more about the support we offer to explore new markets and export opportunities.
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