When Mosa Meat served up a first-of-its-kind, lab-grown hamburger in 2013, it cost over $300,000. Eleven years later, around 200 startups worldwide remain hopeful that growing meat from cells, rather than slaughtering animals, will one day be a major portion of our food supply.
Lab Challenges Facing the Cultivated Meat Industry
Despite their optimism, such success is not a given. In 2024, the industry has hit such rocky times that multiple startups have been forced to scale back or close shop.
Production Goals vs. Current Reality Lab
The industry is talking about eventually producing about 30 million pounds of finished products annually. However, over 100 billion pounds of traditional meat is produced annually today. And if plant-based meat accounts for about 1% of all meat by volume, it will take time for cultivated meat to get to that point, said Better Meat CEO Paul Shapiro, who wrote a book in 2018 called “Clean Meat.”
Realistic Timelines and Financial Constraints Lab
Any goal that puts cultivated meat in big box grocery stores or on fast food menus in the 2020s is “unrealistic,” he told TechCrunch. “Even if it were ready now, and the funding was available now, the time it takes to build these factories is years. And the fact is, the money isn’t there for it, which is why many of these companies have abandoned their plans for commercial-scale factories,” Shapiro said.
Examples of Recent Setbacks
For instance, New Age Eats shut down in early 2023, with founder Brian Spears posting on LinkedIn that the company could not secure funds to complete its pilot facility. Berkeley-based Upside Foods laid off workers and put plans on hold for a new Chicago-area facility. Israel-based Aleph Farms let go of 30% of its staff in June, citing difficulties raising capital.
San Francisco Bay Area-based SCiFi Foods also permanently closed in June. SCiFi CEO Joshua March shared on LinkedIn: “Unfortunately, in this funding environment, we could not raise the capital that we needed to commercialize the SCiFi burger, and SCiFi Foods ran out of time.”
The Broader Economic Context
“It’s a really tough time right now, not just for cultivated meat but for any biotech-related field,” said Tufts University Professor of Biomedical Engineering David Kaplan. The economy is in the toilet, the investing funds are not there, and people are being very, very cautious these days.”
The Need for Innovation in Food Production
It’s important to note that the startups pursuing lab-grown meat are not just pursuing scientific curiosity or a more humane but equally nutritious protein alternative. Most global organizations, including the United Nations, are predicting that by 2050, we will need to produce 60% more food to feed the nearly 10 billion people expected to inhabit Earth.
Cultivated Meat’s Potential Contribution
Those working on cultured meat hope it will be a significant portion of that 60%, with no need to slaughter animals or use the land, water, and energy resources the traditional meat industry needs.
Barriers to Progress Lab
Still, as promising as this field was 11 years ago, there has been frustratingly slow progress on the industry’s main barriers. Companies working on lab-grown meat — although the industry prefers the terms cell-cultured or cultivated meat — make it from animal cells, typically stem cells, fed growth factors in some sort of cell-feeding solution or medium. The cells are fed and grown in bioreactors, then processed with ingredients and flavorings to mimic traditional meat’s taste, texture, look, and mouth feel.
Technical and Perception Challenges Lab
Yet most companies cannot produce large quantities of meat from their processes, much less at a low enough cost or even at price parity with traditional meat. Moreover, the facilities cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to build. Achieving taste and texture is also a problem, as it changes people’s perceptions of these products as unappetizing “Franken meat.”
Regulatory Hurdles
On top of all that, very few companies have achieved regulatory approval in the U.S. for their cultivated meat processes.
Funding Difficulties Lab
Perhaps the biggest difficulty of all is the downturn in venture capital funding. In 2021 and 2022, cultivated meat companies pulled in over $1.6 billion in venture funding, according to Crunchbase analysis. In June, Crunchbase showed around $20 million in financing into this industry in 2024.
Optimism Amidst Challenges
“Changing the world and reinventing the food system is hard, which is probably the least shocking conclusion that one can come to,” Amy Chen, chief operating officer for Upside Foods, told TechCrunch. However, like all others in the cultured meat industry, she believes it can be done. She thinks there will be a point in development where some kind of Moore’s law equivalent will kick in, and the industry will start seeing dramatic production increases and achieve regulatory approval.
