US cell-cultured seafood company Cultured Decadence has raised $1.6 million in an oversubscribed round of pre-seed funding. The Wisconsin-based company has also received the first-ever state government funding of cellular agriculture to produce the first cell-cultured lobster meat in North America, as the market for alt seafood continues to grow.
UPSIDE Foods Acquires Seafood Startup Cultured Decadence to Accelerate Cultivated Lobster
UPSIDE Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats, has acquired cultivated seafood startup Cultured Decadence, which specializes in cell-cultured lobster. The startup will adopt the UPSIDE brand while remaining in Wisconsin as part of UPSIDE’s midwestern technology hub. The acquisition follows the recent opening of UPSIDE’s $50 million Engineering, Production & Innovation Center (EPIC) in California last year, the world’s most advanced facility for producing cultivated meat, poultry and seafood. According to a press release, EPIC’s technology platform will be capable of producing UPSIDE’s existing products and Cultured Decadence’s full species portfolio. Founded in 2020, Cultured Decadence is developing a wide array of high-value seafood products using proprietary cell lines and cell feed, including lobster meat. The acquisition will allow the startup to expand and complement …