Prokarna · The Long Story
We put the cooler
in the beef,
not the beef
in the cooler.
A 100-year-old constraint, removed.
Harvestasis™ — vascular cold-flush perfusion.
The Problem
The beef supply chain
only works at scale
And it's failing everyone else.
"Get big, or get out."
Earl Butz · U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, 1971–1976
<8%
Rancher share of the retail dollar
85%
U.S. beef from only 4 packers
33%
Of U.S. beef from just 10 plants
~60K
Cattle dead or injured in transport yearly
The Constraint
One cooling rule built a
100-year moat
The U.S. consumer demands fresh meat — and that requires rapid, industrial-scale refrigeration.
The biophysics requirement
Get a hot carcass into a very large cooler, very fast: 44.6°F internal in 14 hours. Rapid cooling is the bottleneck.
This single 1950s-era engineering compromise dictates everything downstream:
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
Charles F. Kettering · Head of Research, General Motors
The constraint must change.
Until now — it could not.
The Solution — Harvestasis™
The cow is
the cooler
Instead of cooling carcasses outside-in in giant refrigeration buildings, Harvestasis™ cools from the inside out — using each animal's own vascular system.
Lineage
Adapted from patented, DoD-funded Emergency Preservation & Resuscitation research — battlefield trauma medicine, repurposed for meat processing.
What it does
Precisely controls temperature and biochemistry through the carcass's circulatory system. No refrigeration building. No refrigerated truck. The cooling happens inside the animal, in transit.
Mobile trailer → on the ranch → cold, hide-on carcass → delivered to a local USDA processor. No live transport.
The Product
Mobile harvest +
stabilization platform
Harvestasis™ — four capabilities in one trailer.
01 · Vascular cold-flush perfusion
Rapid internal cooling via the circulatory system.
02 · Thermal & biochemical control
Cellular-level meat science during transport — more tender meat, fat redistributes to premium cuts.
03 · Continuous digital logging
Real-time temperature, pH, and microbial monitoring — exceeds the conventional standard.
04 · Just-in-time supply
Cold, hide-on carcass delivered to local processors. No plant redesign. Drop-in.
Who keeps the beef dollar
Premium Dollars
Stay Local
Centralized processing extracts value from rural economies.
Prokarna reverses that.
So ranch finishing and local processing
deliver premium prices to those closest to the land.
10%51%
Combined rancher + small-processor margin
Share of the retail beef dollar
The system was built for thousand-head feedlots
80% of America's ranches don't fit.
Same cow.
Premium product.
Fundamentally better profit distribution.
Margin per head
$608 to $3,222
Same animal
Combined rancher + small-processor margin, today versus with Prokarna.
Margin per head — today vs. with Prokarna
Today With Prokarna
5.3x
Combined margin uplift
Rancher $451 → $1,256 (+$805) · Processor $157 → $1,966 (+$1,809) · Combined +$2,614 / head.
"Eating is an agricultural act."
Wendell Berry · Farmer & author, The Pleasures of Eating
Growth Path
Own. Franchise.
License & scale.
Three phases, 36 months.
Phase I · 0–12 mo · Own & operate
Buy from ranchers, sell to processors. MPPEP advisory revenue.
Phase II · 12–24 mo · Expand & franchise
Lease financing, franchising, novel meat products.
Phase III · 24–36 mo · License & scale
International licensing, processor partnerships, market expansion.
7-person team. 3-month deploy vs. 7-year conventional plant build. Repeatable, capital-efficient unit economics.
Regulatory Path — FSIS
Squarely within
existing policy
Standard USDA inspection + HACCP plan. No new framework required.
FSIS new-tech submission (mobile units)Existing pathway
Only the exsanguination HACCP step changesMinimal
Continuous digital logging (temp, pH, compliance)Exceeds standard
Faster cooling narrows microbial windowvs. conventional
No plant redesign — cold carcass at hide removalDrop-in
Led by Chris Fuller — built and operated USDA small plants, top small-processor compliance consultant, scores of processor relationships.
3-Year Financial Path
Positive EBITDA
by Year 2
Detailed model in the data room.
Yr 1
Revenue
$0.8M
EBITDA
–$0.75M
Fleet 1–2 deployed · First revenue
Yr 2
Revenue
$13M
EBITDA
$9M
Fleet 3 deployed · Franchise begins · EBITDA positive
Yr 3
Revenue
$26M
EBITDA
$16M
Multiple fleets · Licensing conversations · International
All financial projections are management estimates based on per-head throughput modeling and comparable small-processor operating economics. Full model available in data room.
Team
Built for execution
Science, regulatory, and capital — all in one room.
CEO
James Hansen
Co-inventor · Securities pioneer · FAA-regulated airline operator · Architect of a $1B urban TIF bond. Three decades of regulatory navigation and capital formation.
Chief Science Officer
Dr. Lyn Yaffe
Co-inventor · Battlefield trauma / suspended animation (DoD) · Johns Hopkins · Navy Medical R&D · $120M budget · 50+ publications · 13 patents.
Regulatory
Chris Fuller
Built & operated USDA small plants · HACCP expert · Leading MPPEP grant application · Top consultant for small-processor compliance, with scores of processor relationships.
Counsel · Advisors · Partners
Legal: Dax Hansen, Perkins Coie
Advisors: James Clement III (Earth Optics) · David Cary (Impact Investment) · Jeffrey Geider (TCU Ranch Mgmt Institute) · Richard Lackey (World Food Bank)
Partner: Texas Christian University — applied for a $9.93M USDA AFRI grant
The Ask · Execution Capital
$250K. Now.
$7.5M cap.
Every dollar matched to a milestone.
$250K
YC SAFE · $7.5M valuation cap
Use of funds
Equipment — pumps, piping, tanks, sensors$55K
Engineering & prototype finalization$60K
12-month operating runway$65K
IP, legal, grants, regulatory, sales$70K
First 30–60 Day Unlocks
→ Bovine validation — July 15, 2026
→ One named processor LOI
→ Five MPPEP applications filed
→ HACCP plan submission
Post-Money SAFE · $7.5M valuation cap · YC standard form. Full term sheet and data room available upon request. This presentation is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell securities.
The Opportunity
The build
starts now
"Most farmers are locked into a system they didn't choose and don't like."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. · Secretary of Health & Human Services
"Our health is directly related to our food, and the quality of our food is directly related to and dependent on the quality of our soils."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. · American Regeneration Conference, May 2026
james@prokarna.com
503.307.3164