SciFi Foods
Defunct cultivated beef startup that closed in June 2024 after running out of cash.
On the record
Checkpoint: Watch whether GFI/Tufts open cell bank spawns a new venture using SCiFi's old cell lines
The call
SCiFi Foods no longer operates. Its cell lines now live in a Tufts University research archive, available to whoever wants to try the economics again.
SciFi Foods tried to grow meat in labs instead of raising animals, but the company ran out of money before it could sell anything. The whole field of lab-grown meat has struggled because the costs are still way too high to compete with regular beef, and many U.S. states have made it harder or impossible to sell. The one thing to watch: a research group called GFI is releasing new tools in 2025-2026 that could help a different company try lab-grown meat again, maybe by selling to restaurants instead of regular people, or by operating in places with fewer rules.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI played no role in its collapse. The failure was cost economics and lack of a Series B, not software competition. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: None apparent. No big company took its market. The whole cultivated meat segment shrank, with peers like New Age Eats and Believer Meats also failing. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. None. The company is liquidated and its cell lines now sit with Tufts University's Center for Cellular Agriculture for research use.
What would change this call
GFI/Tufts releases the acquired cell-line bank publicly in 2025-2026. Would show whether SciFi's assets enable a new entrant to attempt commercialization.
A successor venture licenses SciFi's cell lines and announces a commercial product. Would show the underlying tech could reach market despite SciFi's failure.
Additional US states pass restrictions on cultivated meat sales in 2025-2026. Would show the regulatory market for cultivated meat continuing to shrink.
A successor venture licenses SciFi's cell lines and announces a commercial product. Would show the underlying tech could reach market despite SciFi's failure.
Additional US states pass restrictions on cultivated meat sales in 2025-2026. Would show the regulatory market for cultivated meat continuing to shrink.
Key numbers
- Ceased operations June 14, 2024
- Raised approximately $22M to $40M lifetime
- Assets acquired by GFI in August 2024
Named risks
- Company is fully defunct since June 2024 with no operating entity to revive.
- Cultivated-meat sector-wide failure to reach commodity beef cost parity despite 1000x cost cuts.
- Multiple US states enacting bans or restrictive labeling on cultivated meat, hurting any successor using its IP.
- Fabricated financial figures (Datanyze $12.7M revenue, PrivCo $380M revenue) circulate online contradicting verified no-revenue status.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Upside Foods | losing to | Larger-funded rival still operating while SciFi Foods shut down June 2024 |
| Believer Meats | contesting | Both faced asset auctions amid sector collapse reported through 2026-01-22 |
| New Age Eats | contesting | Also ceased operations and auctioned assets, cited alongside SciFi Foods as of 2026-01-22 |
| Meatable | gaining on | Acquired Uncommon Bio's cultivated meat platform per 2026-01-22 report, expanding while SciFi Foods stayed defunct |
| Mission Barns | contesting | Listed as direct competitor by PitchBook (vendor-claimed), still active post-2024 |
Questions people ask
- Is SciFi Foods still operating in 2026?
- No. SciFi Foods (formerly Artemys Foods) ceased operations on June 14, 2024, winding down via an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors process after failing to close a Series B or an acquisition. It no longer exists as a business; its assets were sold to the Good Food Institute in August 2024.
- Did SciFi Foods ever sell a cultivated beef product?
- No. SciFi Foods shut down in June 2024 without ever selling a single product to a restaurant or grocery store, according to Futurism (2024-06-15). It had submitted its hybrid soy/cultivated-beef burger to the FDA with a targeted 2025 launch, but that never occurred.
- Who owns SciFi Foods' technology now?
- The Good Food Institute placed the winning bid for SciFi Foods' cell lines and serum-free media in August 2024. Assets were transferred to Tufts University's Center for Cellular Agriculture by September 2024 and opened to outside researchers around October 2025 as a public resource.
- Was SciFi Foods profitable before it closed?
- No. SciFi Foods never generated product revenue in its five years of operation and closed in June 2024 after failing to raise a Series B round or complete an M&A deal, running out of capital while carrying venture debt, per AgFunderNews (2025-01-07).
- Who invested in SciFi Foods?
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) publicly backed SciFi Foods, announced by general partner Vijay Pande on June 8, 2022. Other named investors included Alumni Ventures, Climate Capital, and FJ Labs, per CB Insights; total lifetime funding is reported as roughly $22M to $40M depending on source.
- Why did SciFi Foods fail?
- SciFi Foods achieved a claimed ~1000x cost reduction, from about $20,000 to under $15 per unit, but still couldn't reach commodity beef price parity before running out of runway. It closed June 14, 2024, amid a sector-wide cultivated-meat collapse and rising state-level regulatory restrictions.
Timeline
- 2026-01-22Sector-wide consolidation report: New Age Eats, Believer Meats also close or auction assets
- 2025-10-01SciFi Foods' cell lines made available to external researchers via Tufts/GFI
- 2024-09-01Assets transferred to Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture
- 2024-08-01Good Food Institute places winning bid for SciFi Foods' cell lines and media
- 2024-06-14SciFi Foods ceases operations, liquidates via Assignment for Benefit of Creditors
- 2023-12Pilot plant opens in San Leandro at 500-liter serum-free bioreactor scale
- 2023-06Partnership announced with Michigan State University on manufacturing scale-up
- 2022-06-08a16z publicly announces investment in SciFi Foods
- 2022-06Company rebrands from Artemys Foods to SciFi Foods
- 2019Founded as Artemys Foods
Revision history
25 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Cultivated meat firm closes its doors (2024-06-14)
- Cultivated meat co SCiFi Foods closes up shop (2025-01-07)
- San Leandro's SCiFi Foods Closes Down (2024-09-30)
- SCiFi Foods Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements
- Investing in SCiFi Foods (2022-06-08)
- Dwindling runway, no term sheet? SCiFi Foods' tips for graceful exit (2025-01-07)
- GFI buys assets of defunct cultivated meat firm (2026-06-10)
- Open-Sourcing the Future of Food (2025-10-24)
- Fake Meat Startup Shuts Down Without Selling a Single Fake Meat (2024-06-15)
- From Loss to Legacy: How GFI and Tufts Are Turning SciFi Foods' Cell Lines into a Public Good (2025-10-20)
- SCiFi Foods Ceases Operations Amid Funding Challenges (2024-07-02)
- Management and Employees List