Cultured Meat Company Upside Foods made the cuts as the industry continues to struggle with legislative bans and a significant drop in venture capital funding. In an email to employees, Upside CEO Uma Valeti wrote that 26 people have left the company and that the company is restructuring its executive and leadership team to “make our structure less top-heavy.”
“We must now sharpen our focus to more rigorously prioritize product launches over the next two years,” Valeti wrote in an email reviewed by WIRED, “and address remaining work, especially key milestones that have yet to be met or are delayed.”
Upside is one of the most well-funded startups in the cultured meat industry and one of only two companies licensed to sell its products in the U.S. In February, WIRED revealed that the startup had put plans to build a large-scale cultured meat plant in Illinois on hold and made “selective role reductions” and “other changes” affecting 16 employees.
In his latest email, Valeti wrote that the company is pausing its “large-scale tissue program.”The company began selling whole-cut chicken at its San Francisco restaurant Bar Crenn in July 2023, but since that initial launch, Upside has indicated that it is focusing its scale-up efforts on so-called “suspension” products, which are suitable for making chicken nuggets, patties and other ground meat products, rather than whole-textured tissue.
In an email, Valeti also addressed the challenges currently facing the industry. “Uncertainty related to political, regulatory, and macroeconomic headwinds forces us to be even more careful and intentional with our focus and resources,” he wrote. In May, Florida and Alabama passed laws banning the sale of cultured meat in their states.
“Upside is focused on the next phase of scaling and commercialization. To remain agile in the face of an uncertain macroeconomic environment and ensure we have the resources necessary to achieve our milestones, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate several positions,” interim communications director Melissa Musiker said in a statement to WIRED. “We are deeply grateful to our departing team members for their hard work, dedication and commitment, and remain steadfast in our mission to bring cultured meat to the world.”
On June 27, just days before Florida’s ban took effect, Upside hosted a public tasting of its chicken in Miami. Outside the event, a mobile anti-cultured meat sign was set up directing people to a website backed by the Environmental Wellbeing Center, a group affiliated with Berman & Co., a public relations firm that has long supported nonprofits that defend the interests of the food and beverage industry.
Steve Molino, an investor at sustainable-food venture-capital firm Clear Current Capital, which doesn’t invest in Upside, said it’s a good sign that Upside is adjusting its strategy to account for these headwinds. “Too many times we see companies wait until it’s too late to make difficult changes,” Molino said.
