kikitori
Tokyo, JP · 6 known investors
Kikitori is an agricultural technology company that develops SaaS platforms for optimizing farm product distribution and operates retail produce shops in Tokyo. The company provides digitalized distribution management solutions for agricultural cooperatives and produce retailers.
Also known as kikitori Co., Ltd. · 株式会社kikitori
Investors · 6
Also in the syndicate · 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026kikitori Co., Ltd. (株式会社kikitori) is a Tokyo-based agricultural technology company that develops and operates nimaru, a cloud SaaS platform specialized in agricultural produce distribution. nimaru replaces phone, fax and handwritten paperwork between shippers and distribution operators for tasks such as collection scheduling, sales, ordering of packaging materials and the creation of transaction-related documents, allowing these to be handled from a smartphone. The product integrates with distributors' existing core systems. A companion product, nimaruJA, is a cloud-based collection-and-shipping system for JA (agricultural cooperative) sites that connects cooperative members, shipping destinations and transport companies and digitizes on-site operations, again with flexible integration into JA core systems.
Alongside the software business, the company runs a retail arm in Tokyo consisting of two stores centered on Bunkyo Ward: the greengrocer "八彩 (YASAI)", whose Sendagi store sources from wholesale markets and directly from producers nationwide, and "KAJITSU", a shop selling cut fruit and juices made from seasonal fruit. The retail operation is also used to feed consumer demand signals back to producing regions. The company's stated business activities are operation of the nimaru produce-distribution SaaS, design and development of information systems, and operation of fruit-processing retail stores.
The company is headquartered in Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, with a Hokkaido branch in central Sapporo and a West Japan branch in Fukuoka (Fukuoka Growth Next). Stated capital is 100,000,000 yen as of August 2026, and its bank is MUFG Bank. It maintains an engineering blog covering Go backend development, Sentry-based incident detection, AI-assisted development practices and handling of unstructured data from agricultural sites.
Founding story
Founder and CEO Seiki Uemura graduated from Nagoya University's Faculty of Economics and spent three years in the coal department of trading house Sojitz Corporation doing international coal trading before leaving in March 2014. He then spent eight months observing and staying in agricultural regions of ASEAN countries, mainly Thailand and Indonesia, and on returning to Japan established kikitori in March 2015.
Business model
kikitori operates a B2B SaaS business selling nimaru and nimaruJA to agricultural distribution operators, JA cooperatives and wholesale markets, complemented by a B2C retail business operating two produce and cut-fruit stores in Tokyo. Proceeds of its 2023 pre-Series A round were earmarked for strengthening sales and customer success organizations and expanding the development organization to broaden the service's coverage of distribution workflows.
Revenue comes from provision of cloud/SaaS services (nimaru and nimaruJA) to distribution operators and JA cooperatives, system design and development work, and retail sales at its produce and cut-fruit stores.
Traction
As of the September 2023 funding announcement, nimaru was used by more than 80 distribution businesses nationwide and by more than 5,000 producers and other shippers; a recruiting profile cites over 80 operators and more than 9,000 shippers. Adoption has extended to prefecture-level JA group organizations, and multiple individual JA deployments were covered by the Japan Agricultural News in 2026. Headcount is listed as 11-30 by one recruiting source and under 50 by a startup database.
Latest developments
During 2026 the company publicized multiple JA deployments of nimaruJA covered by the Japan Agricultural News, including JA Ehime Taiki's DX of producing-region operations (August 2026), JA Tone Numata's tomato section cultivation-technique work (July 2026), JA Nishiuwa's new grading facility start-up and expanded nimaruJA use (July 2026), and JA Sawa Isesaki's strengthened producer-market coordination (June 2026). A company representative, Maekawa, gave a lecture at a market-distribution industry study session in July 2026. Stated capital stood at 100 million yen as of August 2026.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
kikitori positions itself as a distribution platform provider for the primary sector, targeting the legacy agricultural distribution industry, described in company materials as a roughly 9 trillion yen domestic market, with initial focus on produce (vegetable and fruit) distribution, described as a 3 trillion yen segment. As of the 2023 pre-Series A announcement, nimaru was used by more than 80 distribution operators and over 5,000 producers and other shippers; a recruiting profile later cited more than 9,000 shippers.
The service is purpose-built for agricultural produce distribution rather than generic logistics, modeled from on-site work at distribution locations across Japan, and offered as a general-purpose cloud service capable of data linkage with external operators' core systems. The LINE-based interface removes the need for app installation by producers. The company also operates its own retail produce stores, which it uses to relay consumer demand back to producing regions.
Technology
nimaru is a smartphone-accessible cloud service that digitizes ordering, collection, sales and transaction documentation and integrates with distributors' and JA core systems; access is designed around LINE so that no app installation is required and registration can be completed by scanning a QR code. Engineering blog posts describe a Go-based backend for the platform business, use of Sentry for incident detection, work on unstructured data from agricultural sites, and document-centric AI-assisted development workflows.
Go-to-market
The company sells directly into JA cooperatives and wholesale markets, working on-site at distribution locations across Japan to model the workflows. After the January 2022 release of the collection-and-shipping function for producing regions, adoption expanded beyond individual JA deployments to prefecture-level JA group organizations that propagate the service to operators within their prefectures. The company also uses industry publicity (coverage in the Japan Agricultural News), speaking engagements at industry study meetings, and its own nimaru Award and DX case-study events.
Agricultural produce distribution operators, JA agricultural cooperatives and their prefectural federations, wholesale markets, transport companies, and producers/shippers of vegetables and fruit; on the retail side, consumers in the Bunkyo Ward area of Tokyo.
Geography
Operations are in Japan. The head office is in Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, with a Hokkaido branch in Chuo-ku, Sapporo and a West Japan branch in Chuo-ku, Fukuoka. Retail stores are concentrated in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. Customers are spread nationwide, including JA cooperatives such as JA Ehime Taiki, JA Tone Numata, JA Nishiuwa and JA Sawa Isesaki.
History
The company was established on 27 March 2015 by CEO Seiki Uemura. It began providing its cloud platform for agricultural distribution sites in October 2019 under the name "bando", later renamed nimaru. CTO Tatsuhiko Nagatani joined in 2019. A collection-and-shipping function for producing regions was released in January 2022. Funding followed in May 2020 (Coral Capital), January 2021 (Nochu Innovation Fund) and September 2023 (pre-Series A). In October 2024 the company held its first "nimaru Award 2024" and an advanced DX case-study meeting for the produce distribution industry.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 8
launches, deals, and filingsJA Ehime Taiki's use of nimaruJA to digitize producing-region operations was reported in the Japan Agricultural News.
kikitori's Maekawa gave a lecture at the spring training session of a study group on market distribution vision.
kikitori held the first 'nimaru Award 2024' and an advanced DX case-study meeting to promote digital transformation in the agricultural produce distribution industry.
kikitori announced a pre-Series A raise of 300 million yen from Globis Capital Partners, the Nochu Innovation Fund (Norinchukin Bank and Global Brain) and the Valuechain Innovation Fund (Seino Holdings and Spiral Innovation Partners), bringing disclosed cumulative funding to 380 million yen. Proceeds were allocated to strengthening product development and sales/customer success organizations.
nimaru added a collection and shipping function aimed at producing regions, after which adoption spread through prefecture-level JA group organizations in several prefectures.
kikitori announced a 30 million yen financing from the Nochu Innovation Fund.
kikitori, then operating the produce distribution SaaS 'bando', announced a 50 million yen seed financing from Coral Capital.
kikitori began providing its cloud platform for agricultural distribution sites in October 2019 under the name 'bando', later renamed nimaru.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- kikitorikikitori.jp · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does kikitori do?
- Japanese agritech company running nimaru, a SaaS platform digitizing produce distribution, plus greengrocer retail stores.
- Who are kikitori's investors?
- kikitori's investors include Coral Capital, Global Brain, Globis Capital Partners.
- Where is kikitori headquartered?
- kikitori is headquartered in Tokyo, JP.