US: Upside Foods closes $400m Series C with support from Singapore and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds 

  • 25 April 2022
  • Funding
Funds will support commercialisation of cultivated meat in US with company expecting to sell products this year 
Upside Foods
Image from Upside Foods’ website

Upside Foods has raised $400 million in the largest funding round in cultivated meat to date. 

The Series C was co-led by Singapore and Abu Dhabi sovereign investment funds Temasek and Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG). 

Additional investment came from Baillie Gifford, Givaudan, John Doerr, SALT fund, and Synthesis Capital, as well as existing investors Bill Gates, Cargill,  Cercano Management, CPT Capital, Dentsu Ventures, Singapore-based global investor EDBI, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, SOSV’s Indie Bio, and Tyson Foods.

With the support of this funding, Upside expects its lab-grown meat products to available to consumers in the US by the end of the year. 

The capital will be used to develop a commercial production facility that will produce ten of millions of pounds of meat products across all species of meat. 

The facility’s initial focus will be on chicken as it seeks to build a robust supply chain that will reduce costs and enable greater scale. 

The investment will also aid the company in further growing its team of 170 staffers. 

Upside founder and CEO Dr Uma Valeti said of the round: “Upside has reached an historic inflection point, moving from R&D to commercialisation.

“Our team at Upside continues to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges in our mission to make our favourite food a force for good. Working in partnership with our world-class coalition of investors, we’re excited to bring delicious, sustainable and humane meat to the consumers around the world.” 

The company closed its Series B in 2020 and has since built its engineering, production and innovation centre in the US. 

Since its inception, Upside Foods has raised a total of $608 million. 

IN January, the company acquired Cultured Decadence, a Madison, Wisconsin-based cultivated seafood company.