The number of startup companies and the amount of investment dollars going into the field of cultivated meat has exceeded—and will likely continue to exceed—annual exponential growth.

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As we race to find sustainable ways to feed the world’s insatiable appetite for meat, the field of cultivated meat has exceeded annual exponential growth— more than doubling every year in terms of the number of startup companies and investment dollars. In late 2015, one startup raised a few hundred thousand dollars. In 2020, there are dozens of cultivated meat companies around the world pursuing everything from shrimp and bluefin tuna to steak and kangaroo.

This year, the sector took another significant step forward when cultivated meat first-mover Memphis Meats closed a $161 million Series B funding round from lead investors Softbank, Norwest, and Temasek. This amount is greater than all other publicly disclosed investments in cultivated meat companies combined and brings total investment in the startup to $181 million.

What does an investment like this mean for cultivated meat companies and the field as a whole? Having tracked the sector since its inception, I think there are three key takeaways.

Imperial College London has partnered with British startup Arborea to install the world’s first “Biosolar Leaf” technology on its roof. It is first of the kind system to use the microscopic plant to purify the air while producing plant-based food.

Julian Melchiorri CEO of Arborea who pioneered “Biosolar Leaf” technology said – “There has to be a way to feed all the world with healthy and sustainable food by making it the primary choice, not the alternative!”

The system works by growing microscopic plants like blue-green algae, phytoplankton on a solar grid-like layout. In fact, just one acre of “Biosolar Leaf” can remove carbon dioxide and produce breathable oxygen, then, one hundred acres of trees.