Magic Valley partners with Pythag Tech to accelerate cultivated meat scaleup

Magic Valley has announced a strategic partnership with USA-based Pythag Tech, aiming to use artificial intelligence to streamline its scaleup efforts and bring cultivated meat closer to commercial reality.

Revealed on 7 August, the collaboration will see the Melbourne-based startup integrate Pythag Tech’s machine learning platform into its operations. Magic Valley, the first company globally to produce cultivated lamb using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, says the move will help reduce production costs, enhance efficiency, and speed up its path to market.

“We’re using AI to unlock real-time precision, cut costs, and reach scale faster – all without compromising our values or product integrity,” commented Paul Bevan, CEO of Magic Valley.

Pythag Tech’s platform is designed to overcome core bottlenecks in cultivated meat production. By analyzing real-time bioprocess data and training models that continuously adapt, the system helps optimize media formulations, reduce cost per kilogram, and scale processes across different reactor sizes. With each production run, the platform learns and improves, enabling long-term performance gains.

“Cultivated meat companies need to move beyond science projects into scalable systems,” added Sami Nabulsi, CEO of Pythag Tech. “Our machine learning platform gives Magic Valley the intelligence layer it needs to lead that transition.”

Magic Valley views the partnership as central to building a more capital-efficient and scalable production model. Beyond reducing inputs, the company says the AI platform also supports stronger data infrastructure for regulatory and quality assurance purposes and contributes to improved sustainability by lowering energy, media, and resource use.

“This partnership is a game-changer for our commercial roadmap,” Bevan added.

For both companies, the partnership represents a shared belief that artificial intelligence can be a practical enabler of commercial progress in a sector that has so far struggled to scale affordably. By embedding smart systems into its production pipeline, Magic Valley hopes to demonstrate a new path forward for cultivated meat – one that’s driven by data, precision, and a firm focus on cost-efficiency.