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UPSIDE Foods Chicken Taco
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Uma Valeti of Upside Foods Discusses the Challenges of Scaling Cultivated Meat Production

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A Conversation with Uma Valeti, Founder and CEO of Upside Foods

The cultivated meat industry has been making significant strides in recent years, but one challenge that remains is scaling. In a one-on-one interview at TechCrunch Disrupt, Uma Valeti, founder and CEO of Upside Foods, discussed the company’s efforts to address this challenge.

Scaling: The Next Step for Cultivated Meat

Valeti explained that while many people want to eat cultivated chicken products like those produced by Upside Foods, the company is struggling to meet demand. "We are trying to scale to make meat that will go to consumer markets at a price they can afford," he said.

To address this challenge, Upside Foods has raised over $600 million to date and is building facilities to increase production capacity. The company’s EPIC manufacturing facility in Emeryville, California, which was built nearly two years ago, has been instrumental in scaling up production. In the past nine months since opening, the company has worked on scaling, now being able to make its next generation of products at tens of thousands of pounds.

New Production Facility in Chicago

Last week, Upside Foods announced that it had selected the Chicago area for its newest cultivated meat production facility, dubbed Rubicon. The $140 million production facility, which spans 187,000 square feet, will be able to produce millions of pounds of meat.

Valeti emphasized that scaling is not just a facilities problem but also a people problem. "This whole industry is ‘transformative,’" he explained. "It has to go in steps."

The Journey to Scale

Valeti outlined the journey that Upside Foods and other companies in the cultivated meat industry have taken so far:

  1. Getting people to want to eat it: Valeti acknowledged that one of the hardest things for the company was reproducing the taste, texture, and flavor of a whole cut chicken filet. "When people taste it, they’re shocked," he said.
  2. First sale and regulatory approval: Upside Foods has already achieved this milestone, with both sales and regulatory approvals in place.
  3. From first sale to formidable scale: This is the next step for the company, which Valeti believes is not insurmountable.

Industry Growth and Investment

Despite the challenges of scaling, Valeti is more optimistic about the industry than he was five years ago. "Five to seven years ago, this space did not exist," he said. "Let’s look now: We have 150 companies in the world going after this space in every major meat-producing country."

Valeti highlighted several key indicators of growth and investment in the industry:

  • Regulatory approval: Two of the top regulatory agencies in the world, in the United States and Singapore, have approved cultivated meat for consumption.
  • Education and training: Undergraduate and graduate programs are emerging to train the next generation of scientists and engineers in cellular agriculture.
  • Investment: Funding has poured into the industry, with over $1.5 billion invested since 2017.

Conclusion

The cultivated meat industry is making significant strides toward scaling and commercialization. Upside Foods’ efforts to increase production capacity and address challenges associated with scaling are crucial steps in this journey. With continued investment, innovation, and regulatory support, the future of cultivated meat looks bright.

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