株式会社ukka
9 known investors
Japanese food-tech company operating FOOVEST, a fabless food product development and manufacturing platform for retailers and makers.
Also known as ukka · ukka inc. · 株式会社ukka
Investors · 9
Also in the syndicate · 7
Company profile
researched Aug 2026株式会社ukka (ukka inc.) is a Tokyo-based company that operates FOOVEST, a food product development and manufacturing platform. FOOVEST connects producing regions and food manufacturers across Japan with food retailers on a fabless basis, coordinating the food supply chain end-to-end: procurement of processed raw materials for food manufacturers, and private-brand (PB) and retailer-exclusive (留型) product development for retail chains. The platform is organised into segments including a "食品IP" business, in which ukka develops proprietary products with food manufacturers, and a "co-buy" business covering joint development and purchasing for supermarkets.
The company states a vision of "食産業の希望となり、未来を導く" and a mission of "新たな創発が生まれる、フードサプライチェーンをつくる", and addresses what it describes as an approximately ¥45 trillion domestic food retail market. Alongside its supplier network, ukka has developed in-house data and trend analysis functionality ("FOOVEST wakaru") intended to reduce the reliance on individual expertise in product development. Its headquarters are at 1-16-6 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (Futaba Building 2F), and the company reported capital of ¥325.07 million as of the February 2025 press release (¥195.82 million including capital reserve in an earlier company profile listing).
Founding story
Founder and CEO Kei Tanigawa started an individual owner-system platform for agricultural products, "OWNERS", in December 2015. After roughly 18 months running it largely alone, he met the CTO of a listed company who was an OWNERS user, and the two founded ukka in September 2017 under a co-CEO structure.
Business model
ukka acts as a fabless intermediary in the food supply chain, coordinating product planning, development and manufacturing between regional producers/food manufacturers and food retailers, rather than owning production facilities. Work is organised by channel, with distinct development and sales models for convenience stores, supermarkets and other retail formats, and includes both private-brand products for retailers and retailer-exclusive versions of manufacturer brands.
Revenue is generated through the FOOVEST platform's product development and manufacturing coordination for retail and manufacturer clients, including processed-raw-material ordering and retail product development; during a 2020 reset period the company also operated a profitable consulting and content development contract business.
Traction
By November 2022 the retail product development business, started in October 2021, reported order value exceeding ¥200 million in October 2022 with a team of seven. As of the February 2025 Series A announcement, FOOVEST was working with a major convenience store chain (approximately 16,000 stores) and 16 supermarket companies (approximately 1,200 stores) on private-brand and retailer-exclusive products across chilled, prepared-food and grocery categories. Company profiles list 22 members.
Latest developments
In February 2025 ukka announced a ¥320 million Series A round (cumulative ¥640 million including debt) from アグリビジネス投資育成, 東芝テック, CARTA VENTURES and 千葉道場ファンド, to be used for sales and merchandising hiring and for development of its proprietary product-development and DX systems. The company had begun US-market product sales in June 2024 and continues to recruit for domestic and overseas sales, MD, product and engineering roles.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Positions FOOVEST against the structural fragmentation of Japan's food supply chain, where multiple intermediaries and poor information flow limit coordination, and against low private-brand penetration among Japanese supermarkets (about 40% of companies have PB sales ratios under 5%) relative to Western markets. Earlier, in its D2C phase, ukka's marketplace was compared in press coverage with the direct-from-producer service 食べチョク.
Combines a nationwide network of producing regions and manufacturers with an internally developed data- and trend-analysis-driven product development model, offering one-stop coordination from raw material sourcing through retail product launch (supporting retailers' move toward "food SPA", integrated planning, manufacturing and retailing).
Technology
Proprietary systems supporting product development and DX for the food supply chain, including an in-house data and trend analysis capability branded "FOOVEST wakaru", used to make previously expertise-dependent product development more data-driven.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales to food retail chains and manufacturers, supported by a nationwide supplier network; the company launched a "FOOVEST retail partnership" offering for retailer product development support and is hiring domestic and overseas sales, merchandising, engineering and bizdev staff to expand.
Food retailers — large convenience store chains and regional and local supermarket chains — as well as food manufacturers, primary processing makers and producing regions in Japan; since 2024 also US-market retail channels.
Geography
Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, with a supplier and producer network across Japan. Overseas expansion began in June 2024 with product rollout for the US market, including the fruit ice bar brand "KAJYU' 果樹".
History
ukka was incorporated on 2017-09-13 after Tanigawa's individual OWNERS service launched in December 2015. The company raised from angel investors and then a pre-Series A from venture capital in 2019, and rebranded OWNERS as the D2C platform "ukka" in September 2019. In March 2020 the service was closed and the company withdrew from the business entirely; the co-CEO resigned and Tanigawa bought back most of his shares. Restarting in April 2020 with two remaining employees, the company reached profitability on contract work, sold the OWNERS trademark for roughly ¥2 million, and began validating a new business in October 2020. The FOOVEST food manufacturing platform launched in March 2021, initially as a processed raw material ordering service for food manufacturers, then shifting focus to retailer product development; FOOVEST began in earnest in the food retail market in March 2022 and a "FOOVEST retail partnership" offering was released in March 2022. Pre-Series A financing of ¥290 million was announced in November 2022 and a ¥320 million Series A in February 2025.
Risks & controversies
The company's first business, the OWNERS/ukka D2C platform, was shut down in March 2020 within a year of raising venture capital after failing to grow, leading to the departure of most staff and the co-CEO; the founder has publicly described conflicts among members, disputes with shareholders over the wind-down, and personal borrowing to buy out the co-founder's shares.
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 · 12
launches, deals, and filingsukka announced a Series A round totalling ¥320 million from アグリビジネス投資育成, 東芝テック, CARTA VENTURES and 千葉道場ファンド, bringing cumulative funding to ¥640 million including debt, to fund sales/MD hiring and proprietary system development.
ukka began offering products for the US market, including the fruit ice bar brand "KAJYU' 果樹".
ukka announced a pre-Series A financing of ¥290 million in total, including debt finance, for the FOOVEST food manufacturing platform.
ukka released "FOOVEST リテールパートナーシップ", supporting product development for food retail companies, as FOOVEST began operating in earnest in the food retail market.
ukka released FOOVEST, initially a processed raw material ordering service for food manufacturers, later expanding into product development for food retailers.
The company closed its D2C service and withdrew completely from the business; the co-CEO resigned and most members left. The company restarted in April 2020 with two remaining employees on contract work.
ukka linked with ふるさと本舗 to offer a "furusato nozei" hometown tax donation program connecting donors with producers.
The direct-from-producer platform ukka partnered with regional catalogue gift company 地元カンパニー on the shareholder-benefit gift "おいしい株主".
VOYAGE VENTURES invested in ukka, operator of a D2C platform for buying agricultural and marine products directly from producers.
The service allowing consumers to buy agricultural, fishery and processed products directly from producers was fully renewed from "OWNERS" to the service name "ukka".
ukka, then operating the primary-industry D2C platform OWNERS, raised a total of ¥120 million via third-party allotment from investors including W ventures, KVP, SMBC Venture Capital and Mercari's Fumiaki Koizumi.
ukka carried out a third-party allotment share issue; the amount was not disclosed.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- About 株式会社ukka - Wantedlysg.wantedly.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 株式会社ukka do?
- Japanese food-tech company operating FOOVEST, a fabless food product development and manufacturing platform for retailers and makers.
- Who are 株式会社ukka's investors?
- 株式会社ukka's investors include CARTA VENTURES, Inc., W Inc..