On April 21st, Startup City Sapporo organized a startup ecosystem partnership webinar with Humburg in collaboration with Japamburg, JETRO and Sapporo Innovation Lab!

206% food self-sufficiency rate

Japan is famous for the very low food self-sufficiency rate — its calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate was only 37% in 2020.

Did you know that Hokkaido’s food self-sufficiency rate is 206%, the highest in Japan? Department of Agriculture Hokkaido Government states that Hokkaido contributes 23% of Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate, and performs the great role as a food producer.

According to the report, “Hokkaido makes significant contributions to a stable food supply in Japan, and produces the largest volume of products in many of the major agricultural and livestock sectors in Japan.”

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Hokkaido is looking for new business models utilizing FoodTech and offering support for the PoC opportunities.

FoodTech startups collaborating with VCs based in Hokkaido

In 2021, POLAR SHORTCUT, a fund focusing on Seed startups in Sapporo started investing to startups based in Hokkaido.

One of the portfolio companies is Fant, developing a platform that connects hunters and building the right supply chain for gibier.

Another portfolio company is TREASURE IN STOMACH, baking vegan & gluten-free pastry.

Several funds and VCs already built deal flows for FoodTech startups, and Hokkaido is targeting the following two startup categories :
1. startups that promote growth and industrialization in the fields of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which support local communities
2. startups that promote the development of food-related industries that utilize regional resources

Tokachi — the foremost food production base

Tokachi has over 2,000 hours of sunshine a year and a cultivated acreage of 39.4 hectares per farmstead (about 18 times the national average). With large-scale farm crops including wheat, beans and potatoes, Tokachi is also home to advanced agricultural research, hosting an agricultural university and a number of agriculture-related businesses and research institutions. (reference)

LAND, a startup support space in Tokachi

Tokachi Foundation (とかち財団) recently launched LAND, a startup support space in order to validate new business ideas.

Last year Tokachi Foundation signed a partnership agreement with AgVenture Lab, an open innovation lab that empowers startups solving social issues around “food”, “agriculture” and “livelihood”. In collaboration with The JA Group, AgVenture Lab is accelerating collaboration among corporates in order to connect AgTech, FinTech, FoodTech and LifeTech for regional revitalization.

Tokachi Business Challenge for early stage startups

In order to support early stage startups, Tokachi Foundation is offering financial incentives for founders strengthening local brands with a subsidy program that cover 100% of expense.

Pitch contest by student entrepreneurs

A scholarship for student entrepreneurs named “LAND scholarship” is also available in Tokachi. Some of the selected student entrepreneurs can participate a 3-month long program to acquire business skills.

Going through regulations to start selling food

One of the biggest barriers for international FoodTech startups could be going through regulations. Whenever a company or an individual want to start selling a new product, food safety inspection for the product is required.

Tokachi Foundation has a facility to inspect food premises with a clear set of pricing. On top of the facility, it also has equipments for food processing such as vacuum freeze dryer, cross beater mill, retort sterilizer, texture analyzer, etc.

Hokkaido, the biggest prefecture in Japan has a potential — offering PoC opportunities, building industrial clusters such as FoodTech, SpaceTech, BioTech, and HealthTech, and welcoming startups — do you want to be the frontier to explore opportunities in Hokkaido?