State of the Industry Report: Cultivated meat and seafood
Get up to speed on the most significant cellular agriculture developments in 2022. This report details the commercial landscape, investments, regulatory developments, and scientific progress in the cultivated meat and seafood industry.
Explore new data and industry insights
Executive summary
Across the areas of science, innovation, talent, and public and private sector support, 2022 delivered major advances and grew momentum for the early-stage cultivated meat industry—an industry on the cusp of transforming 12,000-year-old ways of making meat. New companies, production facilities, and partnerships were formed. A cultivated chicken product earned the go-ahead nod from the U.S. FDA. The world’s largest dedicated food technology venture fund was launched. Fresh consumer insights and market analysis pointed to growing international interest in cultivated meat adoption. New partnerships and global alliances formed to advance the science and scaling of cultivated meat.
Report highlights
- New industry alliances and partnerships
- Facilities
- Product development trends
- Investment data and insights
- Research updates
- New policy pathways
- An analysis of industry forecasts
Key developments
The State of the Industry Report: Cultivated meat and seafood includes notable news and research across the business, science, and policy of cultivated meat. Here are key developments across the commercial landscape, investments, science and technology, and government and regulation.
Commercial landscape
Path-to-market milestones
- The U.S. FDA gave UPSIDE Foods a regulatory “green light” for their cultivated chicken—a major breakthrough for cultivated meat in the United States. With only a few regulatory steps remaining (a USDA grant of inspection and label pre-approval), cultivated meat has never been closer to the U.S. market than it is today.
- The total number of publicly announced cultivated meat companies rose to 156. As of the end of 2022, there are companies headquartered in 26 different countries in every major world region.
- To date, there are 18 operational facilities worldwide dedicated to producing cultivated meat or seafood. Numerous cultivated meat companies broke ground on, opened, or announced facilities, bringing the total number of planned or operational pilot-scale (or larger) facilities to 27.
- At least 11 new strategic partnerships were announced between cultivated meat companies and major food companies such as ADM, Ajinomoto, and Tnuva, bringing the total number of major partnerships to at least 35.
- The industry continued to align on “cultivated” as the go-to term: GFI APAC and the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture announced a new Memorandum of Understanding stating that “cultivated” is the preferred English-language term with 36 signatories, including almost all producers based in APAC, invested multinationals, and other public and private industry players.
- New research commissioned by GFI further confirmed the finding that “cultivated meat” performs best with consumers for appeal and differentiation from conventional meat.
Investments
All-time investment reaches $2.8 billion
- Cultivated meat companies raised $896 million in 2022, bringing all-time investment to $2.8 billion.
- Cultivated meat companies closed 77 deals in 2022, bringing all-time deals to 294.
- To date, the cultivated meat industry has seen 12 growth-stage (Series B or higher) deals, the largest being UPSIDE Foods’ $400 million Series C in 2022.
- The number of unique investors grew by 19% in 2022 to reach 679 investors in total (since 2016).
Science and technology
Growing scientific ecosystem
- 13 multiyear research projects, including those focused on cell lines, serum-free cell culture media development, and scaffolding were published, many in open-access journals.
- New and updated life cycle assessments found that cultivating meat is a more efficient form of meat production compared to conventional meat, resulting in less land use and reduced air and water pollution.
- Awareness increased around cultivated meat’s potential to eliminate antibiotics from meat production, the overuse of which threatens public health on a global scale.
- Universities worldwide launched seven new alternative protein courses and one certificate program.
Government and regulation
Unprecedented government support for cultivated meat
- In Europe, the Netherlands announced $65 million in funding for cultivated meat and precision fermentation, the world’s largest-ever public investment in the cellular agriculture field.
- Israel, China, and South Korea all increased policy support for cultivated meat development.
- The U.S. Congress directed nearly $6 million in research funds to alternative protein R&D. California approved the first-ever state investment in cultivated meat research, directing $5 million to R&D across three labs, two of which focus on cultivated meat.
- Israel launched the largest government-backed cultivated meat consortium to date, involving the country’s top food producers and academic labs.
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Event
The State of the Industry: Cultivated meat and seafood
Join GFI for a webinar series covering the current global landscape of alternative proteins. This webinar will provide a global analysis of the nascent cultivated meat industry.
Find companies focused on cultivated meat and seafood
These companies focus primarily on cultivated meat and seafood. This list is intended to be as comprehensive as possible, but should not be considered exhaustive. You can learn more about these companies in our company database. Are we missing something? Let us know by filling out our company database edits form.
Download our at-a-glance summary
Don’t have time to read the full report? Check out our summary for a quick view of the highlights and key data points from our 2022 State of the Industry report for cultivated meat and seafood.
Meet the authors
Maille O’Donnell
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGER
Maille O’Donnell supports GFI’s Corporate Engagement team’s work to drive private sector support for alternative proteins.
Areas of expertise: project management, environmental science and policy, writing, alternative protein commercial landscape
Sheila Voss
VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS
Sheila Voss oversees GFI’s strategic awareness and action campaigns, data-driven storytelling, and communications-related partnerships.
Areas of expertise: plant science and sustainability, agricultural education, biodiversity and climate change messaging.
Sharyn Murray, CFA
INVESTOR ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Sharyn Murray crafts and executes strategies to support investors’ exploration of and investment in the alternative protein industry.
Areas of expertise: relationship development, public speaking, project management, investment research.
