Livestock meat company Upside Foods has cut its workforce as the industry continues to grapple with regulatory crackdowns and a significant drop in venture capital funding. In an email to employees, Upside CEO Uma Valeti said 26 people will leave the company and that the company’s management and leadership teams will be restructured to “reduce overstretched structures.”
“We now need to focus on a tighter set of priorities that will pave the way for our product launches over the next two years,” Valeti wrote in an email seen by WIRED. “We need to get the remaining work done, especially on key milestones that have not yet been achieved or are delayed.”
Upside is one of the most well-funded startups in the cultured meat industry and one of only two companies permitted to sell its products in the U.S. In February, WIRED revealed that the startup had put plans to build a huge cultured meat facility in Illinois on hold and was implementing “selective job cuts” and “other changes” that would affect 16 employees.
In the latest email, Valeti wrote that the company is halting its “large-scale tissue program.” The company began selling whole chickens in July 2023 at its San Francisco restaurant Bar Crenn, but since that initial launch, Upside he pointed out that instead of full-textured tissues, the company is focusing its efforts on scaling so-called “suspended” products, more suitable for making chicken nuggets, pates and other ground meat products.
In an email, Valeti also noted the headwinds his industry is currently facing. “The uncertainty surrounding political, regulatory, and macroeconomic headwinds requires us to be even more thoughtful and intentional about our focus and resources,” he wrote. In May, Florida and Alabama passed laws banning the sale of cultured meat in those states.
“Upside is focused on our next chapter of scale and commercialization. To maintain flexibility in the face of an uncertain macroeconomic environment and preserve the resources needed to achieve our milestones, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate a number of positions,” interim communications chief Melissa Musiker told WIRED in a statement. “We are deeply grateful for the hard work, commitment, and dedication of our departing team members, and we remain steadfast in our mission to bring cultured meat to the world.”
On June 27, a few days before the Florida ban went into effect, Upside hosted a public chicken tasting in Miami. In addition to the event mobile billboard Farm-raised meat protesters directed people to a website supported by the Center for Environment and Prosperity, a group affiliated with the public relations firm Berman and Company, which long story supporting non-profit organizations that defend the interests of the food and beverage industry.
Steve Molino, an investor at Clear Current Capital, a venture capital firm focused on sustainable food that is not investing in Upside, says it’s a good sign that Upside is adjusting its strategy to address these headwinds. “Too often, we see companies wait until it’s too late to make difficult changes,” he says.