JAPANESE STARTUP RAISES $6 MILLION TO PRODUCE 3,000 TONS OF VEGAN MEAT ANNUALLY
According to vegnews magazine this month, Japanese plant-based startup DAIZ declared that it raised 650 million yen ($6 million) in a Series A funding round.
The investments are from the Japanese fund Fisheries Growth Industrialization Support Organization and venture capital firm Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
DAIZ makes “raw” vegan meat segments—which it calls “miracle chips”— utilizing the Ochiai High-Pressure Method, which includes developing soybeans to increase umami flavors and healthy benefits before placing them in an extruder and applying molding techniques to reproduce the texture of meat.
DAIZ’s mission is to make “eating plant meat as the fourth meat” with an end goal to take care of the food demand for the growing world population.
The corporation intends to utilize the investments to assemble one of the biggest plant-based meat industrial facilities in Japan with the objective of delivering 3,000 tons of vegan meat every year.
The corporation will initially concentrate on resident distribution through assembling and retail partners before growing worldwide. It additionally intends to open up to the world on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Over the most recent two years, the quantity of vegan cafés and vegan restaurants in Japan has expanded from 400 to around 1,000.
In March, Japan’s well-known domestic chain Mos Burger included the vegan Green Burger—made with a soy-and konjac-based patty—to selected areas in Tokyo and Kanagawa, with plans to extend to more outlets should the choice prove effective.