Mirai Saien Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Showa-ku, Nagoya City, Representative Director: Tomofumi Hatakeyama, hereinafter "Mirai Saien"), an agritech startup originating from the University of Tsukuba, is pleased to announce that it has received investment through the underwriting of a third-party allotment of new shares from the "Iyō Primary Industry Future Fund," jointly established by Iyō Bank, Ltd. (President: Takashi Sagayama, hereinafter "Iyō Bank"), Iyō Bank Capital Co., Ltd., and Japan Finance Corporation (hereinafter "Japan Finance Corporation"). This is the first case in Japan where a fund jointly established by a regional financial institution and Japan Finance Corporation, based on the "Investment and Development System for Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Corporations, etc." established by the government, has invested in an agriculture-related startup. In addition to being an investment that does not involve interest payments or scheduled repayments, unlike a loan, Mirai Saien will be able to tackle the research and development that takes time to monetize, and the nationwide deployment of its pest and disease prediction AI app "TENRYO" with an even longer-term perspective, by welcoming a fund that includes the public-sector Japan Finance Corporation as a stable shareholder. TENRYO AI Occurrence Prediction Screen TENRYO Occurrence Information Sharing Map ■ Developed "Stink Bug Prediction AI" in collaboration with Ehime Prefecture and Prefectural JAs, aiming for nationwide adoption Mirai Saien began its expansion in Ehime Prefecture after being selected for "Triangle Ehime," one of Japan's largest public-private co-creation digital implementation projects led by Ehime Prefecture, in 2024. In recent years, stink bugs have occurred in Ehime Prefecture at a scale approximately 80 times larger than usual (in 2024), causing severe damage to fruits such as citrus, including mandarins. These abnormal outbreaks have become difficult to manage with conventional pest