Toshiki Kazaoka, President of endophyte Inc.
Amid the global decline in farmland acreage and worsening environmental degradation, the demand is increasing for technologies that enable plants to grow even under harsh environmental conditions. endophyte Inc., a startup originating from Ibaraki University, is tackling this issue. The company uses its dark septate endophyte (DSE) strain technology to bring innovation to agriculture and urban greening. We spoke with Toshiki Kazaoka, the company’s president, which manages one of the world’s largest strain libraries, about their strategy and vision.
―Mr. Kazaoka, could you briefly introduce us to your company?
While we are a startup company originating from Ibaraki University, we are also certified as a startup from the University of Tsukuba. Our company was founded in April 2023 and has just entered the second year.
The company was co-founded by myself, as CEO, and Professor Kazuhiko Narisawa of Ibaraki University, who has been involved in microbial research for more than 30 years, serving as CTO.
Later, a senior entrepreneur with corporate management experience in the deep-tech field joined us as a core member of management. Additionally, we also have highly regarded members in the R&D and administration departments. So, we are steadily building our team with a solid foundation in both general business skills and scientific expertise.
―Could you tell us the story of why and how did you start the business?
I first met my co-founder, Professor Narisawa, during my previous job when I was considering launching a fund focused on university-originated startups in regional areas. We hit it off, and I strongly wanted to support him, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that as part of my job.
However, his personality, the potential of technology he possessed, and the vision of a future that could be realized with them were so impressive that I couldn’t forget them. So, I decided that I had to support him independently and personally, which led to the founding of endophyte Inc.
There’s also a reason why I chose a startup from Ibaraki University. I believe that underfunded research institutions do a lot of so-called curiosity-driven research, where researchers conduct deeper scientific research based on their curiosity. From my past experience, I had the perception that this kind of research is more likely to be unique and paradigm-shifting than other research with more funding and talent. So, I had a strong desire to discover the potential value of underfunded research institutions in regional areas.
In addition, there had been few truly successful science-based deep-tech companies in the agricultural field, which gave us a major motivation. We aim to build a new business model and become a role model in this field.
―Could you tell us about your company’s main business?
There are microorganisms that enable plants to grow even in adverse environments and under the impact of climate change. We are developing and working towards commercializing technologies that use these microorganisms.
The world is facing various challenges, with one of the most critical being the degradation of healthy agricultural soil by more than 90% by 2050. In addition, more than 5 million hectares of forest area are lost every year, resulting in the rapid deterioration of the growing environment for plants. In this situation, demand is increasing worldwide for technologies that enable plants to grow properly under poor conditions.
Our microorganisms are a type of plant endophyte isolated and selected from forest soil in an oligotrophic environment. This fungus invades the roots of plants and grows hyphae from them, acting like the fine roots of the plants. Once the microorganisms colonize the roots of plants, it promotes the absorption of water and nutrients that are normally difficult to absorb and improves the plant’s resistance to environmental stresses. Furthermore, it also promotes flowering and fruiting in plants, regardless of climatic conditions such as sunshine duration and temperature.
―Could you explain more about DSE?
Even though we refer to DSE (Dark Septate Endophytes) as a general term, the effects they produce vary greatly depending on the type of strain. We own more than 10,000 strains with such diverse effects. They constitute one of the largest DSE strain libraries in the world.
The extensive resources of this library will enable applications in a wide range of fields in the environmental, food, and agriculture sectors, including plant factories, forest soil regeneration, urban greening, and soil decontamination.
We select appropriate strains from this library based on the issues, demands, and needs of various industries and provide them with tailored solutions. Through this, we work with domestic and international companies to solve business problems, co-create new ventures, and implement solutions in society.
Our technology is basically applicable to a wide variety of plants and has been proven to promote healthy growth even under diverse environmental conditions. In addition, empirical data has also demonstrated benefits for producers, consumers, and the environment, such as shortened seedling raising periods, increased yields, and improved flavor.
―What makes endophyte different from other companies?
More and more companies are entering the market of soil microbial materials, including Idemitsu Kosan in Japan and Indigo Agriculture, a startup from the United States. However, in general, microorganisms are often only compatible with limited types of plants, and they tend to be only applicable to certain plant species. In contrast, our microorganisms are basically applicable to all plant species. Therefore, this gives us an overwhelming advantage over our competitors in terms of the range of applicable crops.
In addition, the versatility of the effects microorganisms can give to plants, especially the effect of promoting flower bud formation regardless of environmental conditions such as sunshine duration and temperature, has so far been confirmed only with our microorganisms. This means that we can achieve year-round cultivation of plants, which was previously possible only through a plant factory but now can be realized with a microbial approach.
―What initiatives are you currently focusing on?
Since our microorganisms can be cultured in a simple process, we can achieve their mass production at a much lower cost than that for conventional microorganisms. For this reason, our technology can also be easily adopted even in cost-extensive sectors such as agriculture and greening.
Currently, our main focus is to provide DSE materials and related technologies. We have established a business model in which we provide technology solutions to companies developing new high-value-added plant cultivation methods as well as those creating innovative bio-materials.
Through these efforts, we are receiving an increasing number of inquiries from various companies, and we are forming an excellent business network. Moving forward, we plan to provide comprehensive solutions for the creation of new environmental businesses to agricultural corporations, real estate companies, general contractors, and others by utilizing not only our technology but also the network and outputs of our partner companies.
Specifically, we will support the creation of new businesses by utilizing our technology, assets, and network. We, as a consortium, will develop a wide range of businesses, including urban greening projects for environmental restoration, urban farming, and dietary education community businesses. We will play a consultant-like role, staying close to and supporting these business creation processes.
Through these business initiatives, we are promoting our main approach of creating a larger, more comprehensive business structure.
In terms of the development of cultivation methods, we are collaborating with a wide range of companies, including food, beverage, and materials manufacturers, and conducting cultivation experiments with various plant species under diverse environmental conditions.
We also utilize a wide variety of materials in cooperation with chemical and greening material manufacturers. By combining these technologies and materials and collaborating with companies that have infrastructure and places for application of our products, we aim to create new business opportunities.
These business initiatives mainly focus on urban greening and farming, but we are also working on other initiatives at the same time for the agricultural sector and for forest soil restoration, such as grand design of farmland.
Our distinctive feature is that we create large-scale and innovative businesses through this consortium-type approach. At present, we are focusing on establishing foundational technologies through one-on-one collaboration with companies while also receiving support from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and other municipalities.
―Could you share with us your future plans?
Starting next year, we plan to promote efforts to build new model cases for urban greening in Osaka and Tokyo, which will strengthen collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
At the same time, as there are strong needs and inquiries about urban greening from countries such as Singapore and Vietnam, we plan to expand our model cases established in Japan to the overseas market from 2026 onward. We aim to build a model that can become the global de facto standard in urban greening. Starting with this fast-paced business area, we’d like to accumulate cultivation data and strengthen our business partnerships to maximize business impact within the large market of agricultural sector in the medium to long term.
| Company name：endophyte Inc. |
| Founded：April 2023 |
| Number of employees：10 |
| Main Businesses：Development and sales of endophyte-assisted soil and seedlings, support for implementation of endophyte farming methods, and agriculture using company’s own farm fields URL：https://endo-phyte.com |
This article is part of a series of articles introducing venture companies working together as ICF members to resolve societal issues.