Cellular ag moves beyond the startup phase
While venture capital for cultivated meat has cooled and several high-profile players in the space stumbled, the center of gravity for cellular agriculture is shifting away from startup economics and toward public-sector and institutional backing, according to experts during the 2026 Tufts Future Food Innovation Day hosted by Tufts Center for Cellular Agriculture on Jan. 8. Venture funding and startup economics have become more difficult for the cellular ag sector, but argued that this has not slowed momentum at the institutional and government level, according to David Kaplan, Stern Family Endowed professor of engineering at Tufts University and Bruce Friedrich, president of Good Food Institute, during a fireside chat. “The private sector has been a little tough this year,” Friedrich said, noting that “everything else has been on fire.” But he emphasized that the scientific and policy landscape is moving in the opposite direction, pointing to growing public investment globally. “We ha
While venture capital for cultivated meat has cooled and several high-profile players in the space stumbled, the center of gravity for cellular agriculture is shifting away from startup economics and toward public-sector and institutional backing, according to experts during the 2026 Tufts Future Food Innovation Day hosted by Tufts Center for Cellular Agriculture on Jan. 8. Venture funding and startup economics have become more difficult for the cellular ag sector, but this has not slowed momentum at the institutional and government level, according to David Kaplan, Stern Family Endowed profes
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