TOKYO—MOL PLUS (Representative: Takuya Sakamoto; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) today announced investment in Regional Fish Institute, Ltd. (President & CEO: Tadanori Umekawa; Headquarters: Kyoto-shi, Kyoto), which develops next generation aquaculture model by combining high-speed breeding and smart aquaculture.
By improving breeds using “genome editing” technology (Note 1), Regional Fish aims to address world’s coming protein shortage, offer farmed fish that can be raised with less feed, and then realize an environmentally friendly and sustainable aquaculture industry, which in turn will revitalize the Japanese fisheries industry as well as regional economies. Expecting Regional Fish will make a significant contribution to solving ESG issues: namely, addressing global food problems and reducing the environmental impact, MOL PLUS has decided to invest in the company.
In the future, MOL PLUS will collaborate with Regional Fish’s offshore aquaculture business in consideration of its environmental impact, and also collaborate in the company’s overseas business development by utilizing MOL Group's global networks.
MOL PLUS continually works to generate synergetic effects based on startup companies’ innovative ideas and technologies and MOL Group’s resources through investment in and collaboration with startups, aiming to create new businesses PLUS new value to the ocean shipping industry and society.
(Note 1) Genome editing technology is a breeding technology expected to speed up the process of breeding by intentionally changing targeted genes, and develop varieties that were difficult to breed in the past.
Website : https://regional.fish/en/
＜About Regional Fish Institute＞
Regional Fish Institute, Ltd. is a start-up company based on the core aquaculture-related technology seeds of Kyoto University, Kinki University, and other institutions. It is pursuing research activities with the aim of bringing innovation to the Japanese fishing industry, improving the production of high-quality marine proteins, and adding value to these products, by combining “high-speed breeding using genome editing technology” and “smart aquaculture using AI/IoT.”
The company has already completed the notification and information provision procedures for genome-edited food products to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and begun distribution of world's first genome-edited animal-based food, a red sea bream with increased edible portion, called the “22nd Century Sea Bream,” followed by its second product, a high-growth tiger puffer called the “22nd Century Pufferfish.”
Group photo of Series B investors
For further information, please contact:
MOL PLUS (Website: https://en.molplus.net/)
Tel: +81-3-3587-7643/Email: molplus@molgroup.com