Preliminary data from the venture capital firm AgFunder shows that funding in the lab meats sector fell by 78% in 2023 to reach $177 million, down from $807 million in 2022 and a peak of $989 million in 2021.
In response to the steep drop in investments, many lab meat startups have been slashing staff numbers and consolidating operations, while others are closing their doors entirely. Now, they want taxpayers to shoulder the burden of helping them right the ship after taking a chance on something that many of us knew from the start was doomed to fail.
At the Future Food-Tech Innovation Summit that was recently held in London, cultivated meat industry reps insisted that governments need to get on board.
Mosa Meat Vice President of Global Public Affairs Robert Jones warned that “[t]here’s a valley of death we’re not going to cross as an industry without a massive infusion of public investment.”
For example, Poland recently gave a 2 million euro grant to a company producing cultured meat. In 2022, the Dutch government announced it would give $65 million of public funding to support meat cultivation from cells and the production of animal-friendly dairy.
Proponents of alternative proteins have complained that the USDA
has only put $124 million toward subsidizing them, while the USDA has
given livestock operators subsidies of more than $59 billion....<<<Read More>>>...