The global red-meat market generates over US$1 trillion annually, yet a surprising amount of that supply chain still relies on the "eye test". Subjective grading and manual inspection to determine the quality and value of what ends up on your plate.

MEQ Solutions, a Melbourne-based startup, is betting that the industry is finally ready to trade intuition for data.

The company announced today it has secured A$23 million (US$15 million) in Series A funding led by global software investor Insight Partners to scale its AI-driven measurement tools worldwide.

In an industry historically defined by "intuition and approximation," MEQ is attempting to build a new category of objective verification.

The company’s suite of hardware and software, which includes the MEQ Probe, MEQ Camera, and MEQ Live, utilises proprietary imaging and AI models to analyse meat quality.

The goal is to provide real-time data on yield and eating attributes across the entire lifecycle, from the live animal in the paddock to the finished product in the processing plant.

The company’s MEQ Camera recently became the first video-based technology to receive certification from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for beef grading, validating the technology as a global benchmark for objective measurement.

The Series A capital will be used to strengthen MEQ’s operations and expand its teams, with a specific focus on deepening collaboration with partners in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and the United States.

According to MEQ Solutions Founder and CEO Remo Carbone, the funding is about operationalising trust in a fragmented supply chain.

"Insight's investment will enable us to further support our partners and grow our teams to capture the opportunity in front of us, with a particular focus on operational excellence," Carbone said. "We're installing truth infrastructure for the red-meat industry, creating value, consistency and trust across the chain."

For processors and producers, the value proposition is economic. By replacing estimated risk with demonstrated quality, processors can optimise yield and reduce waste, while producers can receive accurate payments based on clear, objective feedback.

The round is led by Insight Partners, a New York-based firm with over $90 billion in assets under management and a track record of backing high-growth software scaleups.

Connor Guess, Vice President at Insight Partners, is bullish on the future, suggesting that MEQ’s integration of physical hardware with software analytics positions it to define the category.

"MEQ Solutions is well-positioned to be a category-defining company transforming how value is measured and shared in one of the world's largest industries," said Guess. "Its combination of hardware, software and Al-driven analytics represents the next frontier for transparency, traceability and performance in food production."

MEQ Solutions is currently deployed commercially across three continents.