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Company

We’re making our favorite food a force for good.

Upside Foods

Food Worth Fighting For

Good food brings together good people. The dinner table is where ideas are shared, connections are made, and stories are told. We love meat—and if we make it right, we’ll have even more to go around. Meat the Future, the world’s first feature-length documentary about cultivated meat, captures how we plan to do it.

Watch the Film

Our Leaders

Sean Edgett

Sean Edgett

Sean joined UPSIDE after serving as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Twitter, where he held various key leadership positions for over a decade. In his role at UPSIDE, he leads all aspects of legal, compliance, IP, regulatory, and government affairs. Sean earned his J.D. from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.

Uma Valeti, M.D.

Uma Valeti, M.D.

Dr. Uma Valeti is our CEO and Founder. Uma earned a degree in Cardiology from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India. After residencies at Wayne State and SUNY Buffalo, Uma completed three fellowships at the Mayo Clinic. He teaches Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. In 2019, Uma was named a “Global Thinker of the Decade” by Foreign Policy magazine. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and SXSW.

Amy Chen

Amy Chen

Amy leads our global strategy and commercial functions. Before joining our team, Amy worked at PepsiCo for almost 15 years in a variety of marketing, sales, and commercial roles in the US and Asia. Previously, she earned degrees at both Harvard University and Stanford University.

Kevin Kayser, Ph.D.

Kevin Kayser, Ph.D.

Kevin joined us from Merck, where he led research and development across a number of successful products, including “Chozn” cells. He earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Bob Kiss, Ph.D.

Bob Kiss, Ph.D.

Bob offers expertise across cell culture and bioprocess development and manufacturing. Previously, Bob led teams at Genentech and Sutro Biopharma. He earned degrees at both the University of California, Davis, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Sheetal Shah

Sheetal Shah

Sheetal leads our commercial supply chains and manufacturing operations. He joined us from Impossible Foods and previously held critical roles at GoogleMotorola, and Verifone. Sheetal earned degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of Florida.

Michelle Kwait

Michelle Kwait

With extensive HR experience and a passion for empowering people to bring out their best work, Michelle joined us from Tyser’s Insurance Brokers and has decades of HR experience in the hospitality, retail, CPG, financial services, and education sectors. She graduated from Duquesne University.

Sean Edgett

Sean Edgett

Sean joined UPSIDE after serving as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Twitter, where he held various key leadership positions for over a decade. In his role at UPSIDE, he leads all aspects of legal, compliance, IP, regulatory, and government affairs. Sean earned his J.D. from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.

Uma Valeti, M.D.

Uma Valeti, M.D.

Dr. Uma Valeti is our CEO and Founder. Uma earned a degree in Cardiology from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India. After residencies at Wayne State and SUNY Buffalo, Uma completed three fellowships at the Mayo Clinic. He teaches Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. In 2019, Uma was named a “Global Thinker of the Decade” by Foreign Policy magazine. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and SXSW.

Our Investors

Our latest round of funding is led by Temasek and the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund and supported by Baillie Gifford, Givaudan, John Doerr, SALT Fund, and Synthesis Capital. They are joined by existing investors Bill Gates, Cargill, Cercano Management, CPT Capital, Dentsu Ventures, EDBI, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, SOSV’s Indie Bio, and Tyson Foods.

Eric Shultz

Join our Team

We’re a dedicated team of scientists, chefs, engineers, and researchers with a love for food and a passion for the planet.

View Open Roles

Wear our heart on your sleeve

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