Uma Valeti

Valeti grew up in India, where his father was a veterinarian; he has said, “My dad's a veterinarian, so I grew up around animals.” After medical school he entered cardiology, worked as a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic and later practiced in the Twin Cities, where he was involved in injecting stem cells into the hearts of heart attack patients; he also started two medical device companies.⁠[1][2][3]

He has said he was troubled by slaughter he witnessed as a teenager and as an adult; after seeing stem-cell technology used at the Mayo Clinic to grow human heart cells in the lab, he decided to apply it to growing meat.⁠[1][2]

In 2015 Valeti co-founded Memphis Meats, later renamed UPSIDE Foods. The company created the first cultivated meatball in 2016 and cultivated duck and chicken in 2017. He has said the company began calling its product “clean meat” in 2016.⁠[2][1]

On November 23, 2016, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published the podcast episode “a16z Podcast: Old Food, New Tech — 'Clean Meat'” on its website, featuring Valeti, then CEO of Memphis Meats, Impossible Foods COO David Lee and The Good Food Institute executive director Bruce FriedrichBruce FriedrichBruce Friedrich is the founder and president of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit founded in 2016 to advance research and industry development of alternative proteins such as plant-based and cultivated meat. He previously spent 13 years at the animal rights organization PETA and is the author of Meat (2026).Open the full entry, led by a16z partner Kyle Russell. Starting from projections that about 9.7 billion people will need to be fed by 2050, the episode discussed why current meat production cannot keep up and its environmental toll, the emotional role of meat in consumers’ habits, different methods of making meatless or “clean” meats, transparency about where food comes from, how meat production and marketing could become a new tradition, and the idea of a personalized, local “meat brewery”; it was part of a16z’s Thanksgiving food-tech series. The episode was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[4][5]

In April 2022 UPSIDE Foods raised $400 million; its investors include Bill GatesBill GatesBill Gates is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist who cofounded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and served as its chief executive and chairman. He later shifted his focus toward global health, education and climate, chairs the Gates Foundation, and manages investments through arrangements including Cascade.Open the full entry, Richard BransonRichard BransonRichard Branson is a British entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group. Beginning with a youth magazine and mail-order records, he expanded into aviation, leisure, telecommunications, finance and commercial spaceflight. He also founded Virgin Unite and is known for ballooning expeditions and his 2021 suborbital flight.Open the full entry, Tyson Foods and Cargill. In November 2022 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a landmark decision finding UPSIDE Foods’ cultivated chicken safe to eat, making it the first cultivated meat company to receive such a clearance.⁠[1][2]

In May 2023 Liberty Science Center named Valeti one of that year’s three Genius Award recipients, to be presented at its 30th Anniversary Genius Gala on May 22, 2023.⁠[2]

On June 21, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave its first clearances for meat grown from animal cells, issuing UPSIDE Foods a grant of inspection, the final regulatory step before its cultivated chicken could be sold; GOOD Meat was cleared the same day. UPSIDE Foods’ roughly 70,000-square-foot facility in Emeryville, California, could initially produce about 50,000 pounds of meat a year, and its chicken was to be served first at Dominique Crenn’s Bar Crenn in San Francisco. Valeti called the clearance “a historic step” and said, “Everything we know about how meat can be made is going to change.”⁠[6]

UPSIDE Foods: Official website: https://upsidefoods.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]