Leave a Nest Capital Invests in Ecologgie Inc., a Venture Company from Waseda University
Leave a Nest Capital Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., has invested in Ecologgie Inc. (Head Office: Tokyo; Representative Director: Mr. Seiya Ashikari; hereinafter “Ecologgie”). Ecologgie is a venture company from Waseda University and is developing a decentralized production model with a cricket farmer network in emerging countries. Ecologgie Inc. aims to realize a resource-recycling society by utilizing the biological characteristics of crickets, based on the vision of “creating a sustainable ecosystem where the earth and nature become healthy with our food”.
Since its foundation in 2017, the company has promoted research on cricket production at Waseda University in Japan and moved its base to Cambodia in 2019 to establish a local cricket mass production system. The company will start selling cricket raw materials to the global market, including Japan, in 2021.
With this financing, Ecologgie Inc. aims to enter the global market for insects as raw materials in earnest, accelerate marketing, and sales promotion activities to improve brand recognition and expand its sales.
Taking advantage of the characteristics of crickets, which are omnivorous and thrive on little nutrition, Ecologgie Inc. collects 80 tons of food loss annually from confectionery manufacturers, beer breweries, and restaurants to develop a unique blend of these materials to feed crickets. Cricket production, which is more labor-efficient than conventional crops, is easy for low-income farmers in Cambodia and other countries to engage in as a side business and has the potential to become a new source of income. Ecologgie Inc. has already established a network of about 50 local farmers by entering into production contracts with them and is contributing to improving their living standards through a decentralized production model scattered in rural areas of emerging countries, rather than a centralized large-scale factory production model.
Leave a Nest Group decided to invest in Ecologgie Inc. because it shares the vision of solving poverty issues in agriculture in Cambodia and other countries through the use of cricket production technology and realizing a recycling-oriented society. Together with Ecologgie Inc., we will continue to solve deep issues (unsolved problems that are deeply rooted in a country or region) in Southeast Asia by creating deep tech (a variety of knowledge and technologies combined to solve deep issues) from Japan and contribute to global happiness.
About Ecologgie
Company Name: Ecologgie Inc.
Website: https://ecologgie.com/en/
Head Office: Room 12, Incubation Center, Waseda University, 1-22-3 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative Director: Mr. Seiya ASHIKARI
Incorporation: December 1, 2017
Business: Production of cultivated insect crickets and development, production, and sales of foods and feeds utilizing insect crickets
About Leave a Nest Capital
Company Name: Leave a Nest Capital Co., Ltd.
Website: https://www.lnest.capital/en/
Head Office: Iidabashi Miyuki Building, 1-4 Shimomiyaibicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Representative Directors: Mr. Masahiro IKEGAMI, Shuichiro TAKAHASHI
Incorporation: January 6, 2020
Parent Company: Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.
Business Divisions: Business Environment Development Division, Investment Development Division, Information Development Division