K A S H R U T . C O M_©

February 15, 2024 from the AgFunderNews.com:

"Less than five months after announcing its first commercial-scale cultivated meat plant in Glenview, Illinois, UPSIDE Foods has hit pause on its Chicagoland plans and is instead focusing on expanding its far smaller ‘EPIC’ site in Emeryville, California.

"According to emails sent to staff by UPSIDE Foods founder and CEO Dr. Uma Valeti that were leaked to tech publication WIRED, UPSIDE has also made “selective role eliminations” and “other changes” as it stops “non-critical” work and conserves capital to extend its runway.

"he startup, which has raised $608 million since 2015, shared publicly as recently as January 4 that it was “building a commercial facility to enable the next level of scale,” but is now holding fire at Glenview until it has “delivered key proof points” at its EPIC facility, according to emails sent by Valeti to staff.

"he fact that a startup is prudently cutting back to extend its runway during a challenging funding environment may not appear to be especially newsworthy in the current climate.

"However, the fact that UPSIDE had only just announced the new plant and is now hitting the pause button could dampen confidence in the firm, the performance of which is fairly or otherwise regarded as a proxy for the wider cultivated meat industry given the vast sums it has raised to date and its status as an industry pioneer.

"Believer Meats, which is building what it claims is the “largest cultivated meat production facility in the world” in Wilson, North Carolina, says its expects to be “fully operational in 2024” although it has not yet secured regulatory approvals to sell cultivated meat products in the US.

"UPSIDE has acknowledged that its whole cut technology (for which it has regulatory approval) is not yet ready for prime time, telling AgFunderNews last June that its chicken fillets were still being made in 2-liter flasks. However it recently shared bullish comments about the performance of its hybrid approach, whereby it grows cell biomass in suspension in 2,000-L bioreactors and then combines it with plant-based meat to create processed products such as nuggets and patties."

"Nick Cooney at foodtech investor Lever VC added: 'To me this doesn’t stand out as a good or bad sign… We’ve seen lots of companies across the cultivated, fermentation, and plant-based space cutting back on staff and planned capital expenses in light of the shift in fundraising environment, so it’s not surprising that UPSIDE would do the same.'"