Microalgae SAF startup Atierra raises ¥60M pre-seed led by Lifetime Ventures
What's the deal? AtierraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an OISTDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →-born startup developing microalgae-derived low-carbon feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has closed a 60,000,000 JPY (about $374,722) pre-seed round. The OIST-Lifetime VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Fund and Lifetime Ventures led, with Yuri Group, Shinryo Fund, and angel investors participating.
What's the endgame? Atierra, founded by chief executive officer Shivani Sathish and co-founder Daniel Yee, is building a microalgae bioproduction platform to produce low-carbon oils for SAF at lower cost and larger scale. The company aims to commercialise sustainable, price-competitive feedstocks — a supply gap it calls a key bottleneck to wider SAF adoption.
Where the money goes: Atierra will focus on validating its bioproduction technology, building partnerships across the SAF value chain, strengthening its intellectual property strategy, and preparing for pilot deployment and its next equity round.
Why now? Aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise, and demand for SAF is rising. "As SAF demand grows, the challenge is translating that potential into stable, cost-competitive, large-scale production," Sathish said.
Why microalgae? "Microalgae is one of the few feedstocks that can deliver SAF at the scale aviation needs," said Kureaki Kunii, representative partner at Lifetime Ventures, pointing to Atierra's "interdisciplinary" and "AI-native" approach.
The signal: At roughly $375,000, the round sits near the smaller end for the sector — around the 21st percentile by size. But it reflects growing investor appetite for deep-tech routes to clean fuels in fields that are hard to electrify, with regional backers such as Okinawa's Shinryo Fund betting on OIST spinouts to seed new industries.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
