Innovation Kyoto 2021 Investment Limited Partnership ("KYOTO-icap No.2 Fund"), with Kyoto University Innovation Capital Corporation ("Kyoto iCAP") (Head Office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Kimi Kusumi) as unlimited liability partner, has made a new investment in Kyoto University venture company (Head office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Kanata Ishikawa), a venture company originating from Kyoto University.

Outline of this investment
Sunlit Seedlings, founded by Associate Professor Hirokazu Toki of Kyoto University's Center for Ecological Research, is a company that contributes to industrial sustainability by maximizing the function of natural ecosystems.

While the world's population is increasing, global food production is in danger of declining due to the deterioration of farmlands, soaring fertilizer prices, and reduced use of pesticides due to stricter environmental regulations. In some cases, banana, natural rubber, and date palm plantations are facing a crisis of sustainable production due to the inability to prevent damage from pests and diseases. On the other hand, under more severe natural conditions, climate, soil, and various organisms (plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria) influence each other to form resilient ecosystems, in which plants grow stably without human intervention such as fertilizers and management, However, until now, there have been insufficient efforts to utilize the power of the entire ecosystem as a complex system in agricultural production.

The Toki Laboratory at the Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, has integrated ecology, genomics, and information science to analyze biodiversity in the soil and hydrosphere on a large scale and to elucidate the structure and dynamics of ecosystems from a bird's eye view. Utilizing this fundamental technology, we have developed a method to identify "core microorganisms" from among thousands and tens of thousands of species of organisms that determine the stability and performance of the entire ecosystem.

Sunlit Seedlings has also established "ecosystem core restoration" technology, a method to rapidly induce degraded land ecosystems into a sustainable form based on predictions of the structure and dynamics of soil biological flora, and "ecosystem core control" and "ecosystem core design" technologies as elemental technologies. We have also established "ecosystem core control" and "ecosystem core design" technologies as elemental technologies for ecosystem core restoration, and have promoted a number of joint projects with companies and local governments that utilize these technologies.

In the future, the company will accelerate its business for agriculture using core microorganisms and its business for the environment with "core ecosystem control, design, and restoration" technology at its core, and contribute to sustainable human development that takes biodiversity and natural capital into consideration.

Kyoto iCAP has a technological foundation that encompasses a wide range of fields, from multi-disciplinary science to onsite issues, and is gaining a high reputation in the fields of agriculture and environmental restoration. At the same time as the investment, one outside director will be dispatched to the company to provide general management support.

Outline of Sunlit Seedlings, Inc.

Establishment	January 2020
Business	Development of new technologies in agriculture, environment, and industry through the control of biological ecosystems
Head Office Location	Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
President & CEO	Sota Ishikawa

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