The inaugural Shibuya Food Popup Day was held on the 20th January 2023, showcasing international plant-based foods and food tech startups. The brainchild of Shibuya Startup Support and in cooperation with Tobitate! Study Abroad JAPAN, EKKYO.HUB, and SUNRYSE, the event focused on inspiring the development of the plant-based products in Japan and helping foreign startups take the first steps to enter the Japanese market.

Plant-Based Products and Food Tech from Around the World

A total of 24 companies exhibited their products during the daytime session, as well as a there being a variety of plant-based products sold in Europe on display. Exhibition was done by genre, such as “Super food from sea” (companies dealing with seaweed) and “Nippon taste x startups” (companies developing products based on the idea of Japanese taste, such as miso and soy sauce).

Participants filled out a questionnaire that was shared directly with the startups, where they evaluated each product and wrote a message to the founders.

Startups

・OATLY(Sweden): Pioneer of plant-based milk
・Seatrients (Sweden): Smoothie powder made from fair trade seaweed from the Caribbean
・Mushlabs (Germany): Using mushrooms to produce alternative proteins to create a sustainable food production system
・VlyFoods (Germany): Developing plant-based milk made from peas
・Kåska(Finland): Creating low-alcohol casual drinks
・Happy Ocean Foods (Germany): Producing alternative seafood using plant-based proteins and algae
・wiener Miso (Austria): Producing miso products using local ingredients
・Bosque Foods (Germany/USA): Producing chicken, bacon, and other products by cultivating mushroom mycelium
・Foodetective Business (France): Platform for restaurants with menus, reservations, integration with online delivery services, and TooGoodToGo (future) functionality
・Formo (Germany): Cellular agriculture startup offering the next generation of dairy products
・Messob Foods (Sweden): Gluten-free granola out of teff, nutritious grains native to Africa
・Oceanfruit (Germany): Producing vegan snacks made with European seaweeds
・Bluana (Romania): Developed plant-based salmon and tuna sashimi using pea protein, potato protein, and Indian moringa as ingredients
・LAORI (Germany): For sober curious people. Offers sugar-, additive- and hangover-free alternative to alcoholic beverages without changing the taste
・The Raw Bake Station (UK): Offering gluten-, dairy-, peanut-, and refined-sugar-free cookies
・VOLÉE (Germany): Produces and sells alcohol-free, 100% organic aperitif that aims to bring everyone to the table
・Northern Company (Norway): Offering handpicked, naturally grown sea vegetables from Norway
・Nordic Umami Company (Finland): Developing carbon-neutral, plant-based flavor enhancers based on food industry by-products
・b.culture (Norway): Developing fermented foods based on Koji and mushrooms focusing on byproducts and sustainability
・waterdrop® (Austria): Providing melt-and-drink flavored tablets that use 98% less plastic and CO2
・Soil Scout Ltd (Finland): A fully buried, underground wireless soil sensor and soil monitoring solution that keeps soil in top condition while reducing costs
・Culture Biosciences (U.S.A.): Providing cloud-based bioreactors to help scale up and commercialize research results
・Kingdom Supercultures (U.S.A.): Transforming the consumer goods industry by combining microbial characterization and machine learning to harness naturally occurring microorganisms
・Axiom Cloud (U.S.A.): Optimizes operations in supermarkets and warehouses by optimizing energy consumption in large refrigerators and freezers and diagnosing the cause of malfunctions

Delicious finger foods and drinks by partner companies

Networking and product tasting were rolled into one, with an evening session of finger foods and drinks provided by partner companies.

・OATLY (Sweden): Pioneer of plant-based milk
・Sea Vegetable (Japan): Seeks to cultivate delicious laver naturally in the sea, where it has been drastically depleted. Serving Tosakanori salad and green laver popcorn
・yours + ours (Japan): Offering VEGAN fruit oatmeal with all-natural ingredients and no additives
・Kewpie (Japan): Serving HOBOTAMA open sandwiches made with plant-based ingredients and eggs

We will continue to support food-related and food-tech startups. Please follow us on social media for upcoming events and seminars!

Social Media Accounts
LinkedIn：https://www.linkedin.com/company/shibuya-startup-support/
Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/shibuya.startup.support
Twitter：https://twitter.com/ShibuyaStartup