Fish for future,
For the people,
For our planet

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mission

Today, we’re faced with various social problems – such as shortage of protein sources, and downturn in Japanese aquatic industry.
And we have very little time to solve these issues.

We believe a high-speed breeding can be a decent solution to these problems.
Our core technology “genome editing” can promote evolutionary changes on aquaproducts from DNA level in super-short time.
This can significantly fast forward the current breeding process.

Our mission is to bring Japanese aquaculture to the next level.
By installing our core technology along with digital technology such as AI/IoT, we aim to make aquaculture smart, attractive, and sustainable.
And we believe that such evolution of the industry itself will be a solution to the protein crisis of the world.

Protein Crisis

Recent studies show that protein demand will exceed supply by 2030 and will require double the supply by 2050. As a decent source of animal protein, aquaculture needs significant improvement in its productivity.

Protein Crisis – protein demand exceeds supply
Fish is a super-efficient protein source

Downturn in Japanese Aquatic Industry

Japan used to be the largest producer of aquaproducts in the world. However, the production and the number of workforce have decreased to 1/3 in 30 years. Revival of Japanese aquatic industry is strongly desired.

World’s aquatic industry is growing
On the contrary, Japanese aquatic industry has been declining

technology

Genome Editing
– from “the Unexpected” to “the Expected”

Genome editing is a core technology to realize high-speed breeding. The technology enables us to fast forward the current breeding process by promoting natural changes on DNA.

  • While the history of breeding in agriculture and livestock has been more than 10,000 years, the same for aquaproducts has been only 50 years.

  • Genome editing technique can fast forward the breeding process from 30 years to only 2-3 years.

  • Genome editing is designed to promote natural evolution, not to create artificial traits by introducing foreign genes like GMO.

Genome Editing

Smart Aquaculture
– Creating a New Style of Aquaculture

Aside from the high-speed breeding, in order to make aquaculture a better industry to work in, we also aim to transform the land aquaculture into a productive and sustainable model.

  • Optimize the growth environment using AI/IoT. (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, light, etc)

  • Establish environmentally friendly aquaculture system by using clean energy and waste recycling.

  • Monitor and control the growth environment 24hours/7days to save manpower.

Smart Aquaculture

service

Seed, Farming, Seafood
– We Provide New Fish Breeds in Every Stage of the Value Chain

  • Production and sales of seeds of the new fish breeds.

  • Franchise of smart aquaculture system using AI/IoT.

  • Planning and sales of seafood from the new fish breeds.

platform

profile

Corporate Information

Company Name Regional Fish Institute, Ltd.
Office Address Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
President and CEO Tadanori Umekawa
Founded April 10, 2019
Paid-in Capital JPY 100 million
Number
of Employees
60
Management Team Representative Director and CEO: Tadanori Umekawa
Director and CTO: Masato Kinoshita
Outside Director: Tsuyoshi Ito
Executive Officer and CSO: Tetsushi Sakuma
Executive Officer and R&D Director: Kenta Kishimoto
Executive Officer and Director of Corporate Management: Shunsuke Horita
Science and Technology Advisor: Keitaro Kato

Purpose

Fish for future, For the people, For our planet

Security Sustainability Safety

RFI aims to secure abundant food options for delicious and healthy seafood that are safe and sustainable.

Team

CEO
Tadanori Umekawa

CTO
Masato Kinoshita

Outside Director
Tsuyoshi Ito

CSO
Tetsushi Sakuma

R&D Director
Kenta Kishimoto

Director of Corporate Management
Shunsuke Horita

Partnerships

Technical Alliance

  • 神奈川大学
  • 近畿大学
  • 京都大学
  • 名古屋大学
  • 東北大学
  • 東京大学
  • 国立遺伝学研究所

Capital & Business Alliance

  • A-FIVE
  • Beyond Next Ventures
  • CBC
  • 中信ベンチャーキャピタル
  • Dentsu
  • 荏原製作所
  • Food & Life Companies
  • 岩谷産業
  • KANSOテクノス
  • 京信ソーシャルキャピタル
  • マルイ
  • MOL
  • 三菱UFJキャピタル
  • NTT
  • Docomo
  • NTT東日本
  • 奥村組
  • SB Players
  • SMBCベンチャーキャピタル
  • UBE
  • ウシオ電機
  • 京大創業者応援ファンド

Awards

  • J-Startup Kansai
  • Award for Academic Startup
  • Japan Open Innovation Award
  • Tech Crunch Tokyo 2021

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contact

Please contact us from the link below for any inquires, business partnership, media requests, etc.

Contact us