Supported ventures

Leruo Technologies

Leruo Technologies (Pty) Ltd

Brands: Leruo

Flagship product: Agri Consultant Mobile App, Cow Facial Recognition Traceability Technology

Founding team: Tumelo Makgaka, Ntokozo Zwane, Dr Emmanuel Ali

Application: Agri Consultant Mobile App, Cow Facial Recognition Traceability Technology

Sector/Industry: Agritech & Finance

Subsector: Livestock and Meat Production Industry

Year founded and commenced operations: 2022

Year partnered with TuksNovation: 2025

Email address: tumelo@leruo.co

Website: leruo.co

 

Description

Leruo helps livestock farmers build bankable agribusinesses, by providing them with a bundled offering consisting of expert agri-mentorship services, record keeping tools and animal health input purchases to improve the quantity and quality of the livestock they produce, improving their access to premium markets and banking credit.

Additionally, Leruo also helps farmers protect their livestock from theft, through our A.I powered cow facial recognition traceability technology, enabling them to register their cow by scanning its face.

Growth Objectives

Leruo seeks to move from Pre Seed to Seed stage by:

  1. Scaling our agri mentorship services, agri consultant bookings management and record keeping technology offering beyond pilot to commercial phase.
  2. Launch our animal health input procurement offering and scaling it across serviced farmers.
  3. Reach TRL level 8 with our Cow Facial Recognition Traceability technology, moving from TRL level 6.
  4. Launch market access offerings for livestock farmers onboarded on our agri mentorship program.
  5. Pilot banking credit access offerings to top farmers serviced in our agri mentorship program.

Differentiation/Value Proposition

Leruo’s differentiation point lies in its proprietary Cow Facial Recognition traceability technology, which it provides to farmers at a low cost.

Livestock theft costs South African farmers R1.4 billion annually, while poor livestock traceability results in the spread of diseases such as Foot and Mouth, which prevent smallholder farmers from being able to access formal markets.

Leruo’s use of Cow Facial Recognition as a traceability measure, in addition to state provided brand marks, helps farmers increase the probability that it can be identified by state authorities and recovered, if stolen.

Business Stage/Phase

Leruo is currently in the Development and Early Commercialization Phase. We have:

  • Developed and launched an online (whatsapp and website) booking tool, for farmers to book qualified agri consultants for their consulting services, which has generated initial revenue.
  • Developed and launched a mobile app, enabling agri consultants to manage farmer bookings, keep farmer herd records, and register their livestock through our A.I powered Cow Facial Recognition technology.
  • Developed Whatsapp powered livestock theft reporting tools for farming communities to improve rural safety.
  • Prototyped and tested our Cow Facial Recognition Technology across a range of mobile devices of varying capabilities and have developed full offline functioning capabilities.

Investment Stage/Phase

Leruo is currently at the Seed investment stage. This stage is focused on:

  • Scaling our offerings for commercial use, nationwide.
  • Building the team necessary to meet business demands and increased market penetration.

Investment Raised

To date, Leruo has raised funding from the following sources:

  • R70,000 from African Impact Initiative in 2023.
  • R300,000 from SAB Foundation in 2024.
  • R520,000 from Amazon AWS and Microsoft Founders Hub, in the form of cloud credits.
  • R60,000 from Standard Bank in 2025.