Decided to make additional investment in HarvestX Co., Ltd.
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Press release: March 20, 2024
Decided to make additional investment in HarvestX Co., Ltd.
Open Innovation Promotion No. 1 Investment Business Limited Liability Partnership (hereinafter referred to as “AOI No. 1 Fund”) operated by the University of Tokyo Collaborative Creation Platform Development Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kosuke Ueda; hereinafter referred to as “Todai IPC”) ) has announced that it will make an additional investment of 20 million yen in HarvestX Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Yuki Ichikawa, hereinafter referred to as HarvestX Co., Ltd.), which develops pollination and harvesting robots for plant factories. Decided.
In addition, this investment in HarvestX will be made by existing shareholder ANRI Co., Ltd. (Minato-ku, Tokyo, representative partner). In addition to Deep Core Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Katsumasa Niki), Dawn Capital (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, President and
Representative Director: Kazuhiko Ishikura), SMBC Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director)
Tomoshi Saeki), Shinsei Corporate Investment Co., Ltd. (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Ippei Matsubara), kemuri
Ventures LLC (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Representative: Hiroki Okada), Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank (Head Office: Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Chairman: Hirohisa Takayanagi) (*1), Hulic Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo) , Representative Director and President: Takaya Maeda).
Working on fully automatic cultivation of strawberries using AI and robotics The plant factory market is attracting increasing attention as concerns about food hygiene and food safety increase due to food issues, a shortage of farmers, and the recent coronavirus outbreak. While plant factories for leafy vegetables such as lettuce are expanding, fruit production is largely dependent on insect pollination mediated by bees, and issues such as the instability of pollination harvest and the cost of breeding management are issues. It becomes. HarvestX is working on the development of pollination and harvesting technology using robots as an alternative to honey bees, and through the use of AI to understand the growth status of plants, Harvest We aim to provide automation and package solutions.
HarvestX is a solution that automates “plant management” and “pollination” to achieve stable production, and plans to add a “harvesting” function in 2025. By combining robots, cultivation racks, and cultivation recipes optimized through our own development, and automating pollination and monitoring using AI, we have achieved stable production and reduced production costs, and are working with our partners to create a sustainable production system on a global scale. We aim to expand.
The University of Tokyo IPC adopted HarvestX at the 3rd “1st Round” (*2) before establishing the company, provided support for company startup and business plan formulation, and established a collaborative system with companies developing plant factories.2021 We made our first investment in January. We have continued to provide support, including making additional investments in March 2022. Both product development and business development have grown into a strong and rapidly growing team, and we have made additional investments in order to continue working with HarvestX to contribute to the next generation of agriculture.
*Comment from HarvestX Co., Ltd. Representative Director Yuki Ichikawa* We have received investment from AOI Fund No. 1 since our founding period, and have received a lot of support not only in terms of funding, but also in terms of organizational structure and business development. Together with the University of Tokyo Collaborative Platform Development Co., Ltd., we will work hard to meet the expectations of customers who are looking for our solutions and to solve the world’s food production issues.
*Comment from Keisuke Furukawa, Partner, University of Tokyo Collaborative Creation Platform Development Co., Ltd.*
Following on from the previous round, we made an investment. I feel that we have a strong and rapidly growing team in both product development and business development. We would like to continue working with HarvestX and our partners towards fully automated cultivation.
AOI No. 1 Fund aims to contribute to the development of open innovation activities in Japan
AOI Fund No. 1 was established in 2020 with the concept of “nurturing and investing in ventures through collaboration between companies and academia,” with the aim of promoting open innovation activities around the University of Tokyo. This fund aims to create successful examples of open innovation in new fields by establishing new companies in collaboration with leading companies in each industry, investing in carve-out ventures, and ventures that effectively utilize their assets.
University of Tokyo IPC
will continue to promote academic and research results produced by academia through various collaborations with venture capital and companies promoting open innovation, in order to accelerate the development of the innovation ecosystem around the University of Tokyo and, through it, global innovation. We will continue to create, develop, and invest in ventures that utilize the following.
*1
:Investment from “Shinkin-Yaramaika Investment Limited Partnership (commonly known as Yaramaika Fund),” which is operated by Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank as a limited partner and Shinkin Capital Co., Ltd. as an unlimited partner.
*2: Japan’s largest entrepreneurship support program co-sponsored by multiple universities, operated by the University of Tokyo IPC. https://www.1stround.jp/
*About HarvestX Co., Ltd.*
Overview Development of agricultural equipment and sale of solution packages that utilize it
Established August 2020
Address Entrepreneur Lab 216, South Research Building, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Representative Representative Director Yuki Ichikawa
URL https://harvestx.jp
* About the University of Tokyo Collaborative Platform Development Co., Ltd. (Todai IPC) * Overview An investment company that aims to develop the innovation ecosystem around the University of Tokyo. Established January 2016
Shareholders: The University of Tokyo (100%)
Address Entrepreneur Lab 261, South Research Building, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Kosuke Ueda, President and Representative Director URL https://www.utokyo-ipc.co.jp/
* 【inquiry】*
University of Tokyo Collaborative Creation Platform Development Co., Ltd. Entrepreneur Lab 261, South Research Building, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
TEL: 03-3830-0200
Email: info2@utokyo-ipc.co.jp
Partner in charge: Keisuke Furukawa
*About details about this release*
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