lab grown meat update from AgFunder- ironically another company closed its doors due to lack of sales.
"Outcomes for any one company should not be interpreted as a measure of the strength of the sector overall,” insists AMPS.
Funding has dried up
On paper, cultivated meat looks like a no-brainer. Unlike plant- or fungi-based options, it has the allure of “real” meat without the ethical and environmental baggage, coupled with the promise of food security, which is moving up the agenda in many countries due to supply chain disruptions.
In practice, however, there’s no playbook for biomanufacturing meat at scale, funding has begun to dry up, and the political environment has become increasingly hostile in key markets such as the US and parts of Europe.
AgFunder data show that funding peaked at $989 million in 2021, dipped to $807 million in 2022, $177 million in 2023, $55 million in 2024 (excluding an undisclosed sum raised by Hoxton Farms), and $65 million in 2025.
GOOD Meat, the first company to commercialize cultivated meat, has not yet landed on a model for profitable production at large scale, while UPSIDE Foods has paused plans to build a large-scale facility in Glenview, Illinois, in favor of expanding its smaller “EPIC” site in Emeryville, California given the evolving funding environment.
Further reading:
Breaking: Believer Meats ceases operations, but ‘setback’ does not mean cultivated meat sector is doomed, insists AMPS
HR & talent leader Anne Schubert said: “While the outcome is not what any of us hoped for, I am incredibly proud of what we accomplished.”
What went wrong at Believer Meats? Sources point to risk, scale, and timing
AgFunderNews understands that the plant had 50-L, 200-L, 2,000-L and 20,000-L vessels but had not yet validated the tech at every stage.
Exclusive: Cultivated meat co Believer Meats sued by design build firm for $34m in unpaid bills
In a lawsuit filed on Dec 6, Gray Construction alleged that Believer Meats breached a forbearance and release agreement signed in October.
