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Overview
Oishii runs large indoor vertical strawberry farms to grow premium, pesticide-free fruit year-round. The farms use a controlled environment that precisely manages air, light, and water, and rely on natural bee pollination within a closed-loop system. Automation and robotics, plus AI, handle planting, monitoring, and harvest. Since acquiring Tortuga AgTech, harvesting is increasingly automated as part of the operation. Oishii differentiates itself by focusing on high-end, premium strawberries and by combining traditional Japanese farming techniques with modern technology to create consistent quality at scale, serving both top-tier restaurants and direct-to-consumer retail. Their goal is to expand a nationwide and Japan-based network of smart farms to deliver high-quality, pesticide-free fruit year-round, supported by investments in robotics, infrastructure, and efficient production across the U.S. and Japan.
About Oishii
Industries
Food & Agriculture
Robotics & Automation
AI & Machine Learning
Consumer Goods
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$552.2M
Headquarters
Jersey City, New Jersey
Founded
2016
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- May 2026 Series C raised $150 million, lifting lifetime funding to $370 million.
- August 2026 Tokyo center supports Japan sales starting by year-end 2026.
- Chelsea Market's 2026 retail pilot tests higher-margin direct sales and gifting formats.
What critics are saying
- Tokyo litigation with MD-Farm reaches verdict October 29, 2026, risking technology claims.
- Premium pricing still depends on luxury demand; supermarket adoption remains limited and fragile.
- Any harvest or freshness failure destroys the brand's promise and compresses repeat purchases.
What makes Oishii unique
- Oishii bet on premium strawberries, not low-margin leafy greens, since 2018.
- Hamura's August 2026 innovation center standardizes vertical-farm R&D with robotics and AI.
- NTT and MISUMI deepen Oishii's automation moat across U.S. and Japan.
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Funding
Total Funding
$552.2M
Above
Industry Average
Funded Over
9 Rounds
Industry standards
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
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↓ -2%"Our experience has shown us that scaling isn't simply about building larger farms" "After nearly a decade of operating our own indoor farms, we have a much clearer understanding of where some of the hardest questions lie," says Hiroki Koga, Co-Founder and CEO of Oishii. With its Open Innovation Center now open in Hamura, Tokyo, he lays out what the facility is actually built to solve, and how the company plans to turn that research into changes on the farm floor. Hiroki Koga What the Center is built to solve "The Center is designed to address some of the fundamental challenges that come with making indoor agriculture more scalable and productive, including farming systems, cultivation technologies, sustainability, crop quality and flavor," Hiroki says. "It gives us a dedicated environment to bring together expertise from agriculture, manufacturing, robotics and emerging technologies to tackle them." "Over the next several years, success will ultimately mean translating that research into meaningful advances in how we grow: improving productivity and sustainability while continuing to deliver the quality and flavor that consumers expect from Oishii," he says. "We see the three- to five-year horizon as an opportunity to build the capabilities and partnerships that can have a lasting impact on the future of indoor agriculture." The hardest part of scaling For Hiroki, the biggest barrier to competing economically at scale isn't farm size. "Our experience has shown us that scaling isn't simply about building larger farms. It requires continued advances in cultivation, automation, robotics, infrastructure and other technologies that allow us to produce high-quality crops more efficiently," he says. "Consistent quality, pesticide-free growing, and year-round supply are three benefits that vertical farming can bring. Integrating more automation and advances in data-driven environment management will make these advantages even more important." Oishii is moving away from building each farm largely from scratch, toward a standardized model it can deploy without site-specific development. "The goal of the Open Innovation Center is to bring together different areas of expertise and apply those learnings to the way we operate and scale our smart farms," Hiroki says. "We have an opportunity to test and learn across different environments and bring those insights back into our production in the US. Research around cultivation, robotics, pest and disease control, refrigeration, and other technologies can inform improvements to both existing operations and the design of future facilities." "We aim to build the foundation for global expansion by developing a turnkey solution for vertical farms, packaging the necessary technologies, equipment, and systems into a standardized solution that can be deployed anywhere without requiring site-specific development. To date, we have built our farms largely in-house, combining off-the-shelf equipment with technologies and systems we developed ourselves in the US. Going forward, we will develop equipment and systems specifically designed for vertical farming. Think of it like flat-pack furniture: a standardized, ready-to-assemble solution that can be deployed efficiently in different locations." The NTT collaboration Oishii's collaboration with NTT, the Japanese telecommunications company and an Oishii investor, is one example. "Our work with NTT showcases the type of cross-disciplinary collaboration we want the Center to enable," Hiroki says. "We are exploring optical approaches to pest and disease control, as well as voltage-controlled refrigeration technology that could help extend strawberry freshness and quality. At this stage, the focus is on understanding how these technologies can be applied effectively within indoor agriculture. Over time, we see potential for innovations like these to help us improve the efficiency and precision of our operations while protecting the quality of the crop." "Our Series C is enabling us to invest across both R&D and commercial growth," Hiroki says. "The business we've built in the US over the past decade has shown us where the biggest opportunities for innovation are, and we believe continued investment in those areas is essential to scaling responsibly. Our growing commercial footprint gives us the opportunity to put those innovations into practice and learn from them in real-world production environments." What Japan brings to the US playbook "One of the reasons we established the Open Innovation Center in Japan is because of its exceptional expertise in both agriculture and manufacturing," Hiroki says. "We see an opportunity to combine what we've learned operating our smart farms in the US with Japan's strengths." The Center's research agenda already extends past Oishii's core crop. "Strawberries are at the heart of what we do today, but we're already looking at how our technology and expertise can translate to other crops, including tomatoes. The Center gives us a place to R&D new crops and explore what it takes to grow them with the same focus on quality, flavor, and efficiency. Over time, we see that work expanding the possibilities for what can be grown indoors." For more information: Oishii Hiroki Koga, Co-Founder and CEO [email protected] www.oishii.com
Oishii opens Open Innovation Center in Tokyo to advance vertical farming. Oishii, the company behind what it describes as the world's largest indoor vertical strawberry smart farm, opened its Open Innovation Center in Hamura, Tokyo, on August 5, 2026. The company said the facility is a first-of-its-kind research hub built to address core challenges in vertical farming, including scalable farming systems, productivity, sustainability, flavor, crop quality and cultivation technology for new fruit and vegetable varieties. Center builds on US$150 million Series C. The opening follows the first close of Oishii's US$150 million Series C funding round in May 2026 and marks another step in the company's planned expansion across the U.S. and Japan. Oishii said the center will support continued investment in robotics, farm infrastructure and production across both markets, drawing on nearly a decade of research and operating experience with its pesticide-free, non-GMO indoor produce. Japanese officials and Partners back the project. Oishii said it chose Japan for the center because of the country's expertise in agriculture and manufacturing, fields the company said underpin many of vertical farming's technical demands. Norikazu Suzuki, Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, spoke at the center's opening ceremony. "By combining Japan's exceptional crop varieties with the advanced technologies cultivated through its manufacturing sector, including robotics, and further enhancing them with emerging technologies such as AI, we can create unique value for the world," said Norikazu Suzuki, Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Oishii Partners with NTT on research projects. Some collaborative research is already underway at the center. NTT, an Oishii investor and strategic partner, is working with the company on optical approaches to pest and disease control and is exploring voltage-controlled refrigeration to extend strawberry freshness and quality. Hiroki Koga, Co-Founder and CEO of Oishii, said the center reflects lessons from the company's first decade of operation. "Building Oishii over the last ten years has given us a much clearer understanding of where some of the hardest questions in indoor agriculture lie," said Hiroki Koga, Co-Founder and CEO of Oishii. "The Open Innovation Center gives us a place to bring that experience together with people who have spent their careers approaching these questions from very different fields. There is still a lot we want to learn, and that exchange can push our work in directions we may not reach on our own." Oishii prepares first Japan commercial launch. Alongside the research center, Oishii is preparing for its first commercial launch in Japan, with sales expected to begin by the end of 2026. Founded in 2016, the company grows its Omakase, Koyo and Nikko strawberry varieties in pesticide-free smart farms in the U.S. and counts SPARX Asset Management, NTT, Yaskawa, McWin Capital Partners and Resilience Reserve among its investors. [adrotate group="4"]
A luxury strawberry brand is popping up in New York City - a dozen berries costs $100. Each perfect piece of fruit is hand-selected by a "berry sommelier." Published on August 20, 2026 * Vertical farming brand Oishii is opening its first retail location in New York City's Chelsea Market, on Aug. 20. * The kiosk will only be open for 10 weeks and offers fresh strawberries as well as non-edible merchandise and pastries. * Oishii's Connoisseur Grade Omakase berries, the top 1% of its Omakase variety crop, will be the star of the retail location. Berry fans that live in the Big Apple can rejoice, because Oishii - the vertical farm famous for bringing super-sweet Japanese-style strawberries to supermarket shelves - is opening its first-ever retail destination in New York City today. Situated in the main concourse of Chelsea Market, Oishii's kiosk will be open Thursday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., through Nov. 1. The berry company is piloting the retail format, with the potential to extend its operating dates through the holiday season. The milestone marks a major evolution for the brand, giving fans direct access to its rarest harvests, curated strawberry gift boxes, and culinary creations beyond produce. Prior to this opening, Oishii's products were strictly distributed through third-party grocery partners, including Whole Foods Market, Harris Teeter, Wakefern, and Giant Eagle. The brand has never operated a storefront anywhere in the world. Oishii first launched its Omakase berry in select NYC stores in 2018. Originally hailing from the Japanese Alps, the Omakase variety is known for its sweet flavor, almost creamy texture, and potent aroma. The vertical farm's retail debut will feature its prized Connoisseur Grade Omakase berries. These coveted strawberries represent the top 1% of the company's harvest and are the largest, sweetest, and most pristine pick of the crop. They are the same variety as the brand's original Omakase berries and are typically released in limited quantities. The brand describes them as "our original Omakase berry, presented at its peak expression," and each piece of Connoisseur Grade fruit is selected by Oishii's in-house "berry sommelier." Customers can purchase a pack of six Connoisseur Grade Omakase berries for $50 or a pack of 12 for $100. Both sets come packaged in delicate gift boxes. For visitors looking for a quick taste of its products, Oishii is also selling individual Connoisseur Grade Koyo berries - a vibrant, slightly brighter varietal with a balanced sweetness and refreshing acidity - for $10 apiece. To maintain peak freshness, berries will be delivered daily from Oishii's New Jersey farms. "This daily farm-to-market rhythm allows our Connoisseur Grade berries to arrive when their flavor, fragrance, color, and delicate texture are at their best," says chief executive officer and co-founder Hiroki Koga. Unlike many grocery store strawberries, which are often bred to have a long shelf life, Oishii's products are grown for peak freshness and the perfect bite. They're ripe when you buy them, and they should be eaten within a maximum of three days of purchase. The premium price tag on Oishii's fruit is a result of its unique growing process. The brand's strawberries are grown in indoor smart farms in New Jersey. Inside these pesticide-free environments, proprietary technology replicates the exact temperature, humidity, and breeze of peak Japanese growing seasons, complete with live bees for natural pollination. This indoor climate is designed to mimic the environment that the Omakase variety comes from in the Japanese Alps, re-creating the delicate fruit that's prized in its country of origin. Alongside its fresh fruit, Oishii will sell a curated selection of strawberry-flavored treats and lifestyle goods at the kiosk. Shoppers can grab Oishii Strawberry Yuzu Lemonade ($10), five varieties of Premium Preserves ($35 each), or merchandise like custom heavy-duty canvas totes and an Oishii x Kinto water bottle. Yoshie Nakanishi, the executive pastry chef at Michelin-starred Odo, has designed a selection of desserts for the retail location, including a Strawberry Cookie Sando with white chocolate cream and dehydrated berries ($7 each), a Strawberry Coconut Cream Puff ($10), and a White Chocolate Strawberry Parfait ($12). Oishii's kiosk will also offer cake and confection collaborations with Lady M, a brand famous for its crêpe cakes. To round out the selection at its first retail location, Oishii curated a collection of artisanal objects that celebrate the ceremony of gifting and serving exceptional fruit in Japan. Highlights include Jikko fruit knives from Osaka, a jade-green tray from Kyoto ceramicist Shigeji Noguchi, a celadon plate restored with traditional urushi kintsugi (the practice of repairing broken ceramics with tree sap and dusting the seams with gold or silver powder) from Hitomi Kohno, strawberry spoons from Tokyo's Kappabashi district, and hand-dyed tenugui wrapping cloths from Kamawanu and Musubi. While Oishii hasn't committed to a permanent storefront just yet, the Chelsea Market footprint serves as a trial run for what could come next. "We're treating Chelsea Market as an opportunity to learn," Koga explains. "For now, we're focused on making this experience as special as possible, listening to our guests, and seeing what unfolds from there."
Oishii Farm opens its first Japan R&D hub, and starts selling strawberries in the country it learned from. Japan taught the world how to grow food indoors. On 5 August 2026, a company built entirely outside Japan opened a research facility of its own inside the country and started shipping fruit to Japanese shelves. That's not how this story usually runs. In this article5 sections What happened. On 5 August 2026, Oishii Farm held the opening ceremony for its "Open Innovation Center" in Hamura City, on Tokyo's western edge. It's the US vertical-strawberry grower's first dedicated research and development facility in Japan, and the next chapter for a company Vertical Farming Events has been following since its Series C round. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attended and framed vertical farming as one answer to two problems the prefecture keeps running into: unstable weather and a shrinking farm workforce. CEO Hiroki Koga said at the ceremony that although Hamura is formally a research site, it's already producing a meaningful volume of fruit, and some of that harvest will reach Japanese consumers before the year is out. Pricing and distribution haven't been announced yet. With this move, Japan becomes Oishii's third retail market after the US and Canada. Advertising Precision climate control for indoor agriculture HVACD systems engineered for airflow, temperature and dehumidification in high-density growing environments. Why Japan, why now. The timing tracks a real supply problem, not just a marketing opportunity. Japan's domestic strawberry supply has gotten shakier through the summer months as heat records keep breaking: 2025 was the country's hottest summer since national record-keeping began in 1898, and food prices rose more than twice as fast as the broader consumer price index that year. That's the specific gap Oishii's climate-independent, indoor-grown fruit is aimed at closing. Field-grown berries carry a separate kind of risk too, contamination rather than climate, a pressure that's shown up well outside Japan as well, as its coverage of Europe's 2026 berry recalls laid out. There's a policy angle too. Food tech, vertical farming included, is one of seventeen sectors the Takaichi administration has named as strategically important for growth, part of the same government roadmap Vertical Farming Events broke down in detail. That's not aimed at Oishii specifically, but it does mean the company is opening its Japan R&D hub into a policy climate that's trying to make this kind of investment easier, not harder. A Japanese-rooted company, investing back into Japan. Oishii's story is usually told the other way around: a New Jersey-headquartered startup applying Japanese cultivation know-how to the US market. CEO Hiroki Koga was born in Japan, worked there as a vertical farm consultant, then moved to the US for an MBA at UC Berkeley. He's described Oishii's founding goal as bringing Japanese fruit culture to American consumers. Hamura flips that flow: expertise that started in Japan, got built out and commercialized abroad, is now coming back to fund R&D infrastructure inside the country it came from. The crop choice fits the same pattern. Much of Japan's earlier plant factory generation was built on leafy greens, a low-margin, price-sensitive category that has driven a good share of the industry's well-documented startup economics problem. Oishii has stayed away from greens entirely and bet instead on the harder technical problem of pollinated fruit sold at a premium. Hamura's stated job is exactly that: breeding and cultivation research across hundreds of strawberry varieties, plus development of the sensors, climate control, and packaging equipment needed to keep scaling it. Where this fits in the bigger picture. On its own, an R&D center opening is a modest piece of news. But Oishii didn't arrive at Japan's plant factory sector from nowhere, and it isn't building in isolation. The country has spent sixteen years and a recent ¥4.6 trillion government commitment assembling the industrial base, standards bodies, and capital relationships that a foreign-flagged, Japanese-led company like Oishii now gets to plug into on its way in. Understanding what Oishii is walking into, and what it means that a company built abroad is now investing back into that base, is easier with the fuller picture in view: how this sector actually formed, how its best-known pioneers filed for bankruptcy and simply kept operating under new ownership, a different outcome than the collapses that have taken down CEA pioneers elsewhere, and what "standardization" concretely looks like for a newcomer trying to scale here. Vertical Farming Events has mapped that picture, sixteen years of it, in its independent research report, Japan's Plant Factory Standardization. It's the context this article assumes; Oishii's Hamura opening reads differently once you know what it's opening into. Further reading. Sources3 references
Lady M and Oishii announce return of Oishii Berry Trois Mille Crêpes. The limited-edition collaboration, available for pre-order starting July 1, celebrates Oishii's coveted strawberries in Lady M's signature style. Luxury confections brand Lady M, renowned for its exquisite Mille Crêpes cakes, has announced the highly anticipated return of its exclusive collaboration with Oishii, the innovative company behind the world's largest indoor vertical strawberry smart farm. Building on their successful partnership that introduced the acclaimed Oishii Omakase Berry Mille Crêpes, the two brands are excited to bring back a summertime fan favorite, The Oishii Berry Trois Mille Crêpes. The three-layered celebration of Oishii's renowned strawberries features a delicate cheesecake base layered with a vibrant compote of Omakase, Koyo, and Nikko berries in between Lady M's delicate Mille Crêpes. To highlight the playful collaboration, Lady M's signature crêpes have been reimagined in a soft blush pink. Crowning the creation is a crystal-clear Omakase Berry terrine, infused with Sauternes wine and finished with fresh cream. Each bite offers a vivid blend of textures and aromatics paired with the delicate sweetness that only Lady M and Oishii can deliver. "We're thrilled to bring back our Oishii collaboration for 2026. This cake made such an impression last year, and we've heard from so many customers eagerly waiting for its return. This time, we're making it even more accessible, available by the slice for the first time, alongside a custom insulated bag created exclusively for this year's launch. We're also expanding beyond New York to welcome our Boston community into the experience. We can't wait for everyone to get a taste," said Ken Romaniszyn, global CEO of Lady M. The exclusive three-layered Oishii Berry Trois Mille Crêpes will be available to preorder for Lady M Loyalty members starting on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Preorders for the general public begin on Friday, July 3rd with pick-ups starting on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Slices of the cake will be also be available for walk-in purchase starting on July 8th at participating boutiques, subject to availability. Due to the limited nature of the drop, The Lady M x Oishii collaboration will be available exclusively at New York and Boston Lady M boutiques only. This signature dessert comes packaged in a limited-edition Lady M x Oishii co-branded insulated bag, available while supplies last. ORDERING DETAILS - Whole cakes (6" + 9") available for preorder only (July 1st for Loyalty Members / July 3rd for Public) - Slices available for walk-in purchase at participating boutiques (Starting July 8th) - Pickup days: Wednesday - Saturday only (Based on inventory, starting July 8th) LOCATIONS: - Upper East Side - Bryant Park - World Trade Center - Rockefeller - Columbus Circle About Lady M Lady M is a New York City luxury confections brand with boutique locations worldwide. Created in 2001 and led by CEO Ken Romaniszyn, Lady M is the creator of the world-famous Mille Crêpes. Lady M marries French pastry techniques with Japanese sensibilities, resulting in delicate cakes that are just a touch sweet and perfect for every occasion. All cakes are handcrafted and prepared fresh without food additives or preservatives. Lady M's recipes have been refined over the years to provide the finest quality in taste and appearance. Indulge in a world of cakes and confections at ladym.com. July 1, 2026
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About Oishii
Industries
Food & Agriculture
Robotics & Automation
AI & Machine Learning
Consumer Goods
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$552.2M
Headquarters
Jersey City, New Jersey
Founded
2016
There are no jobs for Oishii right now.
Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today