Okinawa's AlgaleX raises ¥350M Series A to grow nutrients from food waste
What's the deal? Okinawa-based startup AlgaleXDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised ¥350 million in a Series A round to scale its AI-driven method of cultivating algae and microbes. The round brings the company's cumulative funding, including grants, to roughly ¥1.9 billion.
Who's backing it? The round was led by Region People and Future CJS No.2 Investment Limited Partnership. Participants included Chiba DojoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Fund, SMBC Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Circular Economy Nature Positive No.1 Fund, Future Food Fund, and ANA Future Creation Fund, alongside Okinawa firms Takunan Honsha, Shinryo Fund, and Bank of the Ryukyus.
What does it do? AlgaleX cultivates algae and microbes that produce scarce nutrients, using its in-house AI cultivation system, "Touji-24." The technology repurposes unused food residue — such as awamori distillery waste — as a growing medium, taking in more than one tonne of it each week.
The proof point: Its edible algae "Umamo" carries a taste similar to bottarga and 13 times the DHA of mackerel. The product is used in more than 100 restaurants, including Michelin-starred venues, and more than 100 retailers nationwide.
What's the money for? AlgaleX will strengthen Touji-24, expand a "bio-farm" business offering custom cultivation technology to companies, and hire future executive candidates for its operations and research. Trials with several large companies are already under way.
Why now? Rising global prices for natural nutrient sources — the soy, corn, and wild fish that feed livestock and farmed fish — are intensifying competition for those resources. "I felt a great contradiction," said chief executive Daichi Takada, who founded the company five years ago on the belief that nurturing nutrients, rather than competing for them, is the answer.
The signal: The round is a step-up from AlgaleX's previous raise, with early backers SMBC Venture Capital and Chiba Dojo Fund returning to invest again. That repeat participation, plus the arrival of regional Okinawa investors, signals growing conviction in cultivation technology as a route to sustainable nutrient supply.
Read more: PR TIMES
Image credit: Algalex
