# Upside Foods

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/upside-foods  
**Vertical:** Food, Beverage & AgTech  
**Subcategory:** Cultivated Meat  
**Tier:** Emerging  
**Website:** upsidefoods.com  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

First US-approved cultivated meat company with USDA and FDA clearance in June 2023; raised $612M from Tyson, Cargill, SoftBank, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson; commercial sales launched via Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn partnership at Bar Crenn.

## Company Overview

Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) is a Berkeley, California-based cultivated meat company founded in 2015 by Dr. Uma Valeti, Nicholas Genovese, and Will Clem. The company produces chicken directly from animal cells without slaughter, using bioreactor-based cell cultivation. In June 2023, Upside Foods and GOOD Meat became the first US companies to receive USDA approval to sell cultivated meat commercially — a historic regulatory milestone for the food technology industry.\n\nUpside Foods has raised $612 million across seven funding rounds from investors including Tyson Foods, Cargill, Softbank Vision Fund, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson, at a valuation of approximately $1 billion. Commercial sales launched through a partnership with Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn at Bar Crenn in San Francisco, followed by additional restaurant partners. The company's engineering-grade production facility in Emeryville, California serves as both a pilot plant and a showcase for the cultivation technology.\n\nUpside Foods faces the significant challenge of scaling bioreactor production to commercially competitive costs. While regulatory approval is secured, food scientists estimate that cost parity with conventional chicken will require several additional years of manufacturing innovation. The company is widely regarded as the most technically advanced cultivated meat player in the US.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What regulatory approvals has Upside Foods received?
Upside Foods received both FDA clearance (November 2022) and USDA grant of inspection (June 2023), making it one of the first two US companies legally approved to produce and sell cultivated chicken commercially.

### How is cultivated meat made by Upside Foods?
Upside Foods takes a small biopsy of cells from a live animal, cultivates them in a nutrient-rich growth medium inside bioreactors, and harvests the resulting meat without any further animal involvement or slaughter.

### Who has invested in Upside Foods?
Notable investors include Tyson Foods, Cargill, SoftBank Vision Fund, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and a number of strategic food and agriculture funds — reflecting both financial and strategic interest from incumbent meat processors.

### What is Upside Foods and how does it make cultivated meat?
Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) is a cultivated meat company that grows real animal meat from cells rather than slaughtering animals. The company collects a small sample of animal cells, grows them in bioreactors using a nutrient medium, and produces muscle tissue that is processed into conventional meat products like chicken and beef. The result is real meat that is genetically identical to conventional meat but produced without factory farming.

### What regulatory milestones has Upside Foods achieved?
Upside Foods received a positive safety evaluation from the FDA in November 2022 for its cultivated chicken, and subsequently received USDA grant of inspection in June 2023, becoming one of the first two companies (alongside GOOD Meat) to receive approval to sell cultivated chicken in the United States. These approvals represent historic milestones for the cultivated meat industry.

### Where has Upside Foods' cultivated chicken been available to consumers?
Following regulatory approval in 2023, Upside Foods' cultivated chicken became available in a limited commercial launch at Bar Crenn, a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco, and through a partnership with GOOD Restaurant in New York. Commercial availability has been limited while the company works on scaling production capacity to serve broader retail and foodservice channels.

### What is the current cost of producing Upside Foods' cultivated chicken?
While Upside Foods has not disclosed current production cost figures publicly, cultivated meat production costs have declined dramatically from the $300,000+ per pound early prototypes to much lower levels as production technology has improved. However, achieving cost parity with conventional chicken — which costs roughly $2-5 per pound — remains a critical challenge for commercialization at meaningful scale.

### Who has invested in Upside Foods and what is the company's funding status?
Upside Foods has raised over $600 million from prominent investors including SoftBank, Temasek, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and food industry players. The company has used this capital to build its Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center (EPIC) facility in Emeryville, California, which serves as both a production facility and showcase for its cultivated meat technology.

## Tags

b2c, startup, north-america, technology, agriculture, manufacturing

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*