# Ajinomoto

> Ajinomoto is a VC fund in Tokyo backing Biotechnology and Food and Beverage. See 14 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Total investments: 14
- Last investment: Jun 2026
- Lead investor: 14%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ajinomoto-co--inc-
- Website: http://www.ajinomoto.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ajinomoto-north-america-inc-365681990112942

Ajinomoto is a VC fund in Tokyo focused on Biotechnology and Food and Beverage. Ajinomoto Co. is a global manufacturer of high-quality seasonings, processed foods, beverages, amino acids, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals. For many decades Ajinomoto Co. has contributed to food culture and human health through wide-ranging application of amino acid technologies. Today, the company is becoming increasingly involved withsolutions for improved food resources, human health and global sustainability. Founded in 1909 and now operating in 26 countries, Ajinomoto Co. had net sales of JPY 1,197.3 billion (USD 15.1 billion) in fiscal 2011.The Ajinomoto Group Standards of Business Conduct (hereinafter the "Standards of Conduct") describe the conduct that every member of the Ajinomoto Group must understand and practice every day in order to implement the Ajinomoto Group Philosophy in accordance with the Ajinomoto Group Way. The Standards of Conduct also represent the commitments made to all stakeholders by Ajinomoto Group companies.Ajinomoto aim to be "a group of companies that contributes to human health globally" by continually creating unique value to benefit customers.To become a global group of food companies centered on the world's No. 1 seasoning business.To become a global group of aminoscience companies that contributes to humankind with the world's No. 1 amino acid technology.To become a group of health-promoting companies with a scientific approach to good taste and health.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Ajinomoto. Shizune tracks 9 team members at Ajinomoto. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/ajinomoto?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.4M–$8M |
| Series A | $1.5M–$66M |
| Series B | $8.2M–$29M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 3 | 21% |
| Food and Beverage | 3 | 21% |
| Consulting | 2 | 14% |
| Therapeutics | 2 | 14% |
| Manufacturing | 2 | 14% |

24 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 4 | 29% |
| Series B | 3 | 21% |
| Seed | 2 | 14% |
| Series C | 2 | 14% |
| Series D | 1 | 7% |

7 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Japan | 7 | 50% |
| United States | 2 | 14% |
| Canada | 1 | 7% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 7% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Hiromichi Ono | Corporate Vice President | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hiromichi-ono |
| Hiroshi Fukushi | Corporate Senior Vice President & General Manager, AminoScience Division | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hiroshi-fukushi |
| Koji Igarashi | Corporate Senior Vice President | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/koji-igarashi |
| Makoto Murabayashi | Corporate Vice President | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/makoto-murabayashi |
| Masatoshi Ito | Representative Director | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/masatoshi-ito |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NEXT NEW WORLD | NEXT NEW WORLD develops and manufactures natural products with low impact on the environment. It uses sustainable Japanese silk to manufacture apparel and cosmetic products. | $1.5M | Series A | Jun 22, 2026 |  |
| Restore Vision | Restore Vision is a biotechnology company developing a visual restoration gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. Restore Vision develops eye disease therapeutic agents. | $8.2M | Series B | Apr 15, 2026 |  |
| Cellular Intelligence | Somite is a mission to transform the lives of millions of people by leveraging AI to produce human tissue for cell-based therapies. | $47M | Series A | May 13, 2025 |  |
| Enhanced Medical Nutrition | Enhanced Medical Nutrition builds clinical nutrition products to help patients prepare better and recover faster from surgery. | $5M | Series A | Jan 14, 2025 |  |
| Safire Technology Group | Safire Technology Group is a developer of Li-ion electrolyte additive technology designed for battery safety mechanisms. Their technology stops explosions or fires through an instantaneous liquid-to-solid transformation upon mechanical impact and imparts ballistic protection. | $8M | Seed | Sep 19, 2024 |  |
| TechMagic | TechMagic strives to ease and create a richer lifestyle by introducing AI and robotics into daily life. Its first project aims to solve this issue in the food industry, by implementing a cooking robot into kitchens of restaurants. TechMagic’s automatic cooking solution allows businesses to reduce labor costs. | $16.8M | Series C | Mar 27, 2024 |  |
| Ascend Gene & Cell Therapies | Ascend Gene & Cell Therapies supports manufacturing and process development projects from design through to clinical and commercial scales. They partner with biotechnology teams to embed scalable manufacturing in their operations from the beginning. They respond to customer inquiries by phone and contact form. | $65.9M | Series A | Mar 20, 2023 |  |
| SARAH | SARAH has been working on the planning and operation of the gourmet community app "SARAH", which operates a menu gourmet site "SARAH" that allows you to search for items you want to eat from menu-based posts. | $2.7M | Series D | Mar 08, 2023 |  |
| Tsubame BHB | Tsubame intends to commercialize on-site ammonia production using an electride catalyst in a small-scale plant. It utilizes a unique technology to solve survival issues related to environmental and food problems and to realize a sustainable society. | $29.1M | Series B | Jul 21, 2022 |  |
| On The Slope | On the way to Sakano deliver vegetables grown without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, aiming to spread agriculture with low environmental impact. We want to make agriculture sustainable and reach a sustainable society. | $117.8M | Series G | May 14, 2021 |  |

10 of 14 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mitsui-sumitomo-insuarance-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Universal Materials Incubator](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/universal-materials-incubator-b260) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [4BIO Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/4bio-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Abingworth](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/abingworth-management) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [DCVC Bio](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dcvc-bio) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Miraidoa](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/future-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Ajinomoto invest in?

Ajinomoto invests primarily in Biotechnology, Food and Beverage and Consulting startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 14 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Japan. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Ajinomoto's check size?

Ajinomoto typically joins rounds of $1.4M–$8M at Seed, $1.5M–$66M at Series A and $8.2M–$29M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Ajinomoto participates in.

### How do I contact Ajinomoto?

Public channels for Ajinomoto include LinkedIn, the website linked on this profile and Facebook. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Ajinomoto?

The team at Ajinomoto includes Hiromichi Ono (Corporate Vice President), Hiroshi Fukushi (Corporate Senior Vice President & General Manager, AminoScience Division) and Koji Igarashi (Corporate Senior Vice President), among 9 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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