Kinish, a Tokyo startup that makes dairy alternatives from rice, has raised ¥490m (about $3.1m) in the first close of its Series A round. It announced the round on 20 October 2026.
The investors are INSPiRE Mutualistic Symbiosis Fund 1, the Shimadzu Future Innovation Fund, which is the corporate venture arm of the scientific instruments maker Shimadzu, the construction company Obayashi and Love Veggies Holding of Canada. The company did not name a lead investor or disclose a valuation.
Some English-language coverage gave the amount as ¥4.9bn. The company's release states 4.9億円, which is ¥490m, and BRIDGE's Japanese report gives the same figure.
“Love Veggies' investment in Kinish reflects our confidence in its innovative technology.”Johnson Lin, Founder, Love Veggies Holding
What Kinish does
Kinish develops plant-based alternatives to milk and dairy using rice. Alongside food products, it works on plant molecular farming, a technique that uses plants to produce proteins such as those found in milk.
Kinish said it has managed to make rice produce casein, a milk protein, and plans next to breed varieties that contain more of it. In a plant-factory trial it grew dwarf rice plants about 20cm tall and harvested 2,079.7g of brown rice per square metre in three months. It compared that with an average field yield of 539g per square metre a year, a figure from Japan's agriculture ministry.
Its consumer brand, The Rice Creamery, is sold in about 500 stores in Japan, the company said. In October 2025 the products also went on sale at retailers in Washington DC and at Meta's office there, and Kinish has since opened an office in New York. The Rice Creamery itself is made from rice grown in ordinary fields in Japan, not from the company's own engineered rice. According to BRIDGE, the ice cream first went on sale in Tokyo shops and online in August 2025 and reached FamilyMart stores in Okinawa that December.
The company was founded in January 2023 and is based in Shibuya, Tokyo. Its representative director and chief executive is Hiroya Hashizume.
Who invested
Hideaki Kusano of Shimadzu's corporate venture team said in the release that Kinish's appeal goes beyond its plant molecular farming technology to a team with skills from research through to commercialisation. Tamaki Horii of Obayashi's business innovation office said the company sees the rice-based foods, the growing of dwarf rice in several crops a year and the production of high-value proteins as a promising step towards a sustainable food system.
Love Veggies, the Canadian investor, gave the only statement in English. "Love Veggies' investment in Kinish reflects our confidence in its innovative technology," said its founder, Johnson Lin. Lin said Love Veggies sees Kinish as a partner for bringing its products to North America and other markets.
The funding so far
Kinish raised a ¥120m seed round in February 2025 from Genesia Ventures, Lifetime Ventures, Full Commit Partners and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, BRIDGE reported at the time. That money was earmarked for developing casein-producing rice, joint plant-factory research with Shizuoka University and marketing in Japan and the US. BRIDGE also reported that Kinish was the first Japanese company chosen for Union Kitchen, a US food-startup accelerator.
Because this is a first close, the Series A could grow. Kinish said it will use the money to expand sales in Japan and the US, invest in plant-factory and molecular farming research, and hire a management and finance lead as well as business staff in both countries. Its New York office is meant to serve as the base for local production and retail. It has not disclosed its headcount.
Company website: kini-sh.com