BERKELEY, CALIF. — Upside Foods closed $400 million in Series C funding, the largest round to date for the cultivated meat industry, according to the company.

The new funding brings Upside’s total amount raised to $608 million and places its valuation at more than $1 billion. Funds from the round will help the company build its commercial scale production facility, which is expected to produce tens of millions of pounds of cultivated meat products annually at full capacity. The facility will produce multiple species of meat in both ground and whole cut formats, with an initial focus on chicken. Upside plans to make its first products available to consumers in the United States later this year pending regulatory review.

The injection of capital also will help Upside ramp up consumer education efforts and build out a supply chain for cell feed components.

Already a key priority, consumer education will continue to be an area of focus for the startup as it prepares for commercialization. Upside recently hosted the first public tour of its Engineering, Production and Innovation Center (EPIC) as part of a broader effort to educate consumers about cultivated meat and its production process.

“The cultivated meat industry has reached a historic inflection point,” said Uma Valeti, PhD, founder and chief executive officer of Upside Foods. “Our team has a proven track record of overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges in our mission to make our favorite food a force for good. Working in partnership with our world-class coalition of investors, we’re excited to bring delicious, sustainable and humane meat to the consumers around the world.”