Australian cultivated meat company Magic Valley has entered a strategic partnership with US-based technology firm Pythag Tech to integrate artificial intelligence into its production systems. The collaboration is intended to improve process efficiency, lower manufacturing costs, and shorten timelines for scaling up to commercial volumes.
“We’re using AI to unlock real-time precision, cut costs, and reach scale faster”
Paul Bevan, CEO of Magic Valley, said, “This partnership is a game-changer for our commercial roadmap. We’re using AI to unlock real-time precision, cut costs, and reach scale faster – all without compromising our values or product integrity.”
Key anticipated benefits of the collaboration include reduced waste from manual experimentation, lower per-kilogram production costs, and shortened research and development timelines. Both companies state that the AI-driven process optimisation could also decrease energy and media use, contributing to more resource-efficient production.
Magic Valley, headquartered in Melbourne, is known for producing cultivated lamb using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and a fully animal-free process. The company has received both institutional investment and government funding, including a AU$100,000 grant earlier this year. In June, it held a tasting event at the New South Wales Parliament featuring cultivated lamb meatballs and pork dumplings.
AI meets cell ag
Pythag Tech, based in New York, develops AI-driven systems for cellular agriculture. Its machine learning platform aggregates real-time bioprocess data to optimise cell growth media, adjust production parameters across different reactor scales, and reduce resource consumption. According to the company, the platform continually refines its models after each production run, building an auditable dataset for regulatory and quality assurance purposes.
CEO of Pythag Tech, Sami Nabulsi, noted that many cultivated meat producers are still operating at pilot scale: “Cultivated meat companies need to move beyond science projects into scalable systems. Our machine learning platform gives Magic Valley the intelligence layer it needs to lead that transition.”
