The story started back in November 2015 when I was running a Seed Accelerator, SunBridge Global Ventures. We organized our pitch event, “Innovation Weekend,” in Berlin for the first time, where Infarm won the first prize. And we invited them to Tokyo to compete for the grand champion of the year. Then, Infarm won the grand prize.
Infarm, a Vertical Farming startup originated out of Berlin, was co-founded by Erez Galonska and Guy Galonska, brothers, and Osnat Michaeli in 2013.
I myself, technically DreamVision that I’m running, am one of the early investors of Infarm. And we established Infarm Japan as a legal entity in February 20020 to enter the Japanese market. And I’ve become Managing Director at Infarm Japan.
Thanks to JR East and its 100% subsidiary “Kinokuniya,” a premium supermarket in Japan, we’re planning to launch in Japan sometime this year.
Today, I’d like to share what I’m feeling from running Infarm Japan in addition to being an early investor at the parent company.
1, Almost like producing Electric Vehicles or Smart Phones.
To produce “vegetables,” we need “Hardware” such as InStore Farming Units, and also “Software” to control the climates in the InStore Farming Units, to monitor the conditions of vegetables, etc. We’re a hybrid business with Hardware & Software like Apple or Tesla.
It means that Infarm’s business is structured with lots of different functions such as R&D, Crop science, Business Development, Corporate Sales, Marketing, Operation, Supply chain, Installation, and so on, and a variety of talented people.
When you think to design, or change something, it affects everything. Everything has to be synchronized.
To me, it’s very challenging and exciting because all the business I co-founded and was running were Internet-related businesses that Hardware was not involved in. Infarm’s business is innovation itself.
2, Cosmopolitan culture.
We’re globalized both talents and regions. Infarm has almost 600 people today. Those 600 people have consisted of more than 30 nationalities if I remember correctly. English is a common language at Infarm, but native English speaking people are less than 20%.
Since they are supposed to be different from each other, there is no entrainment pressure and an attitude to understand what each other thinks is required. It’s a very open-minded culture.
3, Attracts global talents.
It’s a great honor to have a lot of talented people wanting to work at Infarm, and people from different companies wanting to do business with Infarm.
And I feel great responsibility and pressure. It’s such wonderful circumstances, and I can’t help getting results.
The above is what I feel.
We are looking for people who will be onboard to the journey ahead.
If you’re interested in, please apply from the link below!