On April 21, 2022, UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats), a leading company in the cultivated meat, poultry, and seafood industry, announced the close of a $400 million Series C funding round that brings the company's valuation to over $1 billion. The Series C round was co-led by Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore, and the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, a new investor. Other new investors include Baillie Gifford, Givaudan, John Doerr, SALT fund, and Synthesis Capital. They are joined by existing investors Bill Gates, Cargill, Cercano Management, CPT Capital, Dentsu Ventures, Singapore-based global investor EDBI, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, SOSV's Indie Bio, and Tyson Foods. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Temasek on the transaction.
UPSIDE Foods will use the funds to build a commercial production facility with a planned annual capacity of tens of millions of pounds of cultivated meat products. The facility will be able to produce any species of meat in both ground and whole cut formats, with an initial focus on chicken. Additionally, the funds will help build a robust supply chain for critical cell feed components that will reduce costs and enable greater scale. Other priorities for UPSIDE Foods include enhancing consumer education, investing in research and development for the next generation of cultivated meat products, and continuing to grow its team. Pending regulatory review, UPSIDE Foods plans to be available to consumers in the U.S. later this year.
The Wilson Sonsini team that represented Temasek in the transaction includes:
Corporate
Barry Taylor
Lianna Whittleton
Rowena Chen
James Power
Patent
Karen Wong
Adrian Barker
Brandon Tavshanjian
FDA/Regulatory
Georgia Ravitz
Scott Cohn
National Security
Stephen Heifetz
Seth Cowell
Real Estate
Susan Reinstra
Brooke Elberger
Antitrust
Todd Hahn
Privacy
Matt Staples
Daniel Chen
Megan Kayo
Dantam Le
Technology Transactions
Kristin Bradley
For more information, please see UPSIDE Foods' press release.