Upside Foods’ $400 million Series C is the largest funding round in the cultivated meat industry.

Upside Foods, the first cultivated meat company in the world founded in 2015 and now approaching commercialization, has raised $400 million in a Series C round co-led by Temasek and the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG) and joined by major food and ingredient companies Cargill, Givaudan, and Tyson Foods, individual investors Bill Gates, John Doerr, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, and a range of other reputable financial and institutional investors. (Upside Foods)

The latest round catapulted Upside Foods into unicorn status. It cultivates meat from cells inside a growth medium and inside lab-like premises. The process is highly environment-friendly, requires no slaughter of animals, and consumes far fewer resources.

The funds will enable the company (previously known as Memphis Meats) to create the infrastructure required to produce cultivated meat at scale, and for further product innovation. Plans include building a new commercial facility that will target making tens of millions of pounds of UPSIDE meat annually.

The company has, over the last couple of years, announced UPSIDE chicken as its first consumer product, and developed a cell feed (or, growth medium) that is free of all animal components. It also acquired cultivated seafood company Cultured Decadence and opened EPIC, its Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center – the most advanced production facility and innovation space for cultivated meat in the world – which started production in November.

Says Uma Valeti, Founder & CEO: “UPSIDE has reached a historic inflection point, moving from R&D to commercialization. Our team at UPSIDE continues to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges in our mission to make our favorite 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.”

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Image Credit: Upside Foods