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ICMG Co-Creation Fund invests in Shikomel food tech
— A platformer which transforms food and beverage industry – –

 

7th September, 2022

ICMG Partners Co., Ltd.

ICMG Co-Creation FundⅠInvestment LP

We are pleased to announce that ICMG Co-Creation Fund I Investment LP, managed by ICMG Partners Co., Ltd. (HQ: Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Gen Funahashi) and invested by Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Haneda Airport, Ota-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Nobuaki Yokota) and Kiraboshi Bank, Ltd. (Head Office: Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Hisanobu Watanabe) has invested in Shikomel food tech Inc. (HQ: Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Naoyoshi Nishihara), which provides “Shikomel,” a platform that addresses restaurant management issues by out-sourcing the food preparation process. In this round, the company has raised a total of 820 million yen together with investors including Headline Asia, SIG Asia Investment, LLP, agri-invest, Plan・Do・See Inc. and others. Shikomel food tech provides a platform that matches centralized cloud kitchens with restaurants to provide high quality, ready to eat products based on pre-determined recipes, and is taking on the challenge of transforming the value chain in the food and beverage industry with the mission of “making the world more delicious, rich, and easy through Food Supply Chain DX.”

 

(Left) Gen Funahashi, CEO of ICMG Partners,

(Right) CEO of Shikomel food tech Naoyoshi Nishihara(Photo taken at ICMG Tokyo Office)

 

Traditionally, Japanese restaurants face structural business challenges of high fixed costs, low profit margins, and labor shortages. The operating profit margin for a typical izakaya is around 5%, and the likelihood of falling into the red increases significantly if sales were to decline by 20%. In terms of labor shortages, it is projected that by 2030 there will be a supply-demand gap of about 20% in the service industry, including food and beverage. In addition, the highest percentage of non-full-time employees is in the food and beverage industry, with 84.4% of businesses experiencing a shortage as of 2018 (from “Labor Market Future Estimates 2030,” Persol Research Institute and Chuo University). Additionally, in terms of food wastage & negative environmental impact, just under 40% of food loss occurs in the food service and food manufacturing industries. This is second only to the amount discarded by ordinary households, which accounts for the largest percentage, and needs to be improved in order to enhance food sustainability.

 

To address these issues, Shikomel food tech offers Shikomel, a solution that matches restaurants with food factories and outsources the food preparation process. Shikomel oversees the process from provision of recipes by restaurants to prototyping and delivery of prepared products within a 1 to 2 month period. By outsourcing food preparation, Shikomel is able to reduce labor shortages and rent costs for restaurants. In addition, Shikomel has experience in reproducing more than 2,000 recipes for Japanese, Western, Chinese, and other cuisines, and works with Michelin chefs to provide high-quality prepared food products. Recently, the company has begun providing prepared food products not only to restaurants, but also to lodging facilities and nursing care facilities, greatly expanding the scope of its support. In addition, the use of Shikomel has contributed to improving the utilization rate of food factories, leading to increased optimization of the entire food and beverage industry.

 

The significance of this investment lies in solving structural issues in the restaurant and food industry and addressing climate change through the reduction of food loss. The expansion of Shikomel food tech’s services will allow restaurants that wish to outsource their food preparation to develop a business plan that has the flexibility to quickly address social & business changes, freeing them from low profit margins, high fixed costs, and labor shortages. In addition, through the Shikomel platform, Shikomel will enable food ingredients to be exchanged between food factories, enabling effective use of surplus ingredients and reducing food loss.

 

ICMG Group will continue to contribute to the expansion of the Shikomel platform by utilizing its network of large Japanese companies. ICMG also has strong networks in Singapore, India, and other countries, and will support Shikomel food tech in its efforts to realize a world where delicious Japanese food can be easily consumed overseas with the same delicious taste, through high-quality, prepared food products.

 

【About Shikomel food tech】

In October 2020, Shikomel food tech launched “Shikomel,” a service that outsources the preparation of food and beverage products for restaurants, with the aim of solving issues faced by the F&B industry and helping restaurants improve their management efficiency. In February 2022, the company began offering two new functions: the “Shikomel Store,” which allows customers to order menu items prepared by famous restaurants and chefs and pre-prepared food items such as sauces and dressings, and ordering function, which allows users to manage their orders to multiple suppliers by simple UI.
URL: https://corp.shikomel.com/

 

【About ICMG Group】

ICMG Group has been leading co-creative innovation not only in Japan but also in Southeast Asia and US together with various stakeholders such as leading Japanese big corporations, startups, and government agencies. ICMG Group has also carried out renewable energy investment projects in Southeast Asia with Tokyo Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Co, formed a strategic partnership in Singapore with UNDP to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and launched the sustainable city initiative project in Japan with Aichi Prefectural Government. ICMG Co-Creation Fund aims to create a sustainable society by providing growth capital and strong partner network of leading Japanese corporations to startups that solve social issues.

URL: https://www.icmg.com.sg/

 

【About ICMG Co-Creation Fund】

ICMG Co-Creation Fund was launched in May 2021 and is being managed by ICMG Partners as the General Partner. The Limited Partners are Japan Airport Terminal, which operates Haneda Airport Terminal Building and its group company Haneda Future Research Institute (LP investment from Japan Airport Terminal), and Kiraboshi Bank, which aims to become “a comprehensive service provider with strong financial capabilities”. The fund aims to build an ecosystem that leads a sustainable future by encouraging co-creation between startups that solve social issues beyond industries and Japanese large companies. In addition to providing startups with speedy growth capital, we also aim to provide growth support by offering collaboration opportunities with ICMG Group’s network of Japanese large companies.

 

For media inquiries, please contact:

ICMG Partners Co., Ltd.

Public Relations Office

Phone:+81 03-6812-2548

Email:[email protected]