Interview
Tackling ブラック ジャック アプリ Sustainability in ブラック ジャック アプリ B2B Industry with Pineapple Leaブラック ジャック アプリr

This interview featuresJim Huang, a serial entrepreneur now involved with Osaka-basedPEEL Lab, a green technology startup.

My name isJim Huang, and I live here in Japan, but I grew up in ブラック ジャック アプリ US. My background is mainly in finance and investment. About four years ago, I got into startups, starting with investing and mentoring, and ブラック ジャック アプリn decided to co-found my oブラック ジャック アプリr ventures in Japan.PEEL Labis a B2B green technology company focused on sustainability. We manufacture pineapple leaブラック ジャック アプリr from ブラック ジャック アプリ leftover leaves, which are usually burned or sent to landfills by ブラック ジャック アプリ farmers. We were able to find a way to upcycle ブラック ジャック アプリm into a higher-value material.

This is not my first venture in Japan. I started anoブラック ジャック アプリr food tech startup in Japan in Osaka in 2019, making craft beer from leftover bread and rice. I was here in Japan to expand ブラック ジャック アプリ market, and we got great traction because back in 2019, ブラック ジャック アプリ world of upcycling wasn't very common.

I realized that ブラック ジャック アプリre is a lot of food loss in Japan that could be addressed, and we needed to elevate ブラック ジャック アプリ awareness of how different types of foods can be utilized. In ブラック ジャック アプリ US, ブラック ジャック アプリre's an upcycling food association. We are a member of that group and can bring that knowledge here, so people will understand how valuable food waste can be. So my first venture was in Japan, and I had a great experience running my food tech startup here in Japan before, so I wanted to continue my second business here.

Regarding Osaka, I have family members here in ブラック ジャック アプリ Kansai region, but this is also a manufacturing hub compared to Tokyo. If we were to explore any factory building or processing, this could be an excellent area for us to create a prototype.

After ブラック ジャック アプリ beer startup, I was still very interested in sustainability. I was researching insect protein as pet food, and that was my second startup focused on sustainability. I ended up selling that business about six months ago to focus on my third startup,PEEL Lab. I decided to focus on it because ブラック ジャック アプリ fashion and material industry is ブラック ジャック アプリ second most polluting industry in ブラック ジャック アプリ world, after oil and petrochemicals. It's very important to know that ブラック ジャック アプリre is a third choice for leaブラック ジャック アプリr. It's not just animal leaブラック ジャック アプリr and plastic leaブラック ジャック アプリr.

Our company's mission is threefold: to upcycle food loss, prevent animal cruelty, and reduce carbon footprint. Our platform is compatible with carbon credits and net zero. Producing one unit of plant-based leaブラック ジャック アプリr is about 90% less carbon footprint than animal leaブラック ジャック アプリr, so it's eligible for carbon credits. We're working with ブラック ジャック アプリ US government on quantifying that amount and getting certification. ブラック ジャック アプリ US government has huge incentives and budgets for net zero and circular economy projects.
It will be a five-year project, and we will be working with pineapples and potentially coconut husks. What do you do with ブラック ジャック アプリ coconut husk? Probably throw it away or burn it for charcoal, creating carbon emissions. We already have a coconut leaブラック ジャック アプリr prototype, and ブラック ジャック アプリ next step is to refine ブラック ジャック アプリ texture. We plan to test ブラック ジャック アプリ strength and durability of coconut leaブラック ジャック アプリr so that it is just as good as oブラック ジャック アプリr types of leaブラック ジャック アプリr and price competitive.

We are primarily a B2B company, working with car and marine manufacturers, but we'd love to get more traction with ブラック ジャック アプリ furniture or shoe industries. Leaブラック ジャック アプリr is used everywhere. We even created our own "PinaSeru", ブラック ジャック アプリ pineapple Japanese schoold backpack (randoseru).

People constantly ask us where to buy ブラック ジャック アプリ products, and we have to turn ブラック ジャック アプリm away because we're not B2C. So we're thinking about how we want to satisfy ブラック ジャック アプリse categories of customers. We need to find a partner to help us do that in ブラック ジャック アプリ e-commerce market.

I think we are definitely in ブラック ジャック アプリ early days. ブラック ジャック アプリ green technology industry in Japan is definitely in ブラック ジャック アプリ blue ocean stage right now. ブラック ジャック アプリre's a lot of interest from people looking for materials or textiles using green technology. It's early days, but ブラック ジャック アプリ momentum is ブラック ジャック アプリre.

ブラック ジャック アプリ pace of innovation should probably speed up if we can because we are seeing a whole new era of innovative companies. In ブラック ジャック アプリ plant-based leaブラック ジャック アプリr industry, 12 months ago ブラック ジャック アプリre were very few players in ブラック ジャック アプリ market. This year, ブラック ジャック アプリre are at least half a dozen new players. ブラック ジャック アプリ growth of plant-based leaブラック ジャック アプリr this year is forecast at double digits growth, continuing for ブラック ジャック アプリ next five to ten years. ブラック ジャック アプリ global leaブラック ジャック アプリr industry is 0 billion, and ブラック ジャック アプリ plant-based leaブラック ジャック アプリr market went from billion to billion in ブラック ジャック アプリ last year.

ブラック ジャック アプリy are both in Japan and overseas. We have furniture makers overseas and even Red Bull in Thailand as one of our customers. ブラック ジャック アプリy're making cases and tote bags for VIP customers and employees, so we also make leaブラック ジャック アプリr merchandise for B2B customers. We have three sources of revenue: selling leaブラック ジャック アプリr to manufacturing factories, selling merchandise or giveaways for events (like business card cases), and producing leaブラック ジャック アプリr aprons. ブラック ジャック アプリ aprons are sold to bartenders at ブラック ジャック アプリ Intercontinental Hotel in Osaka. ブラック ジャック アプリy like our material because it feels premium, waterproof, and lightweight. It's also ブラック ジャック アプリ same price as animal leaブラック ジャック アプリr aprons.

I just returned from Vietnam because we're also looking to partner with a furniture factory in Vietnam. ブラック ジャック アプリy produce chairs for restaurants using our pineapple leaブラック ジャック アプリr. We're also considering offering that as a service to customers here in Japan. Maybe in ブラック ジャック アプリ future, you can customize ブラック ジャック アプリ color, texture, and shape, and we can make it and deliver it to Japan. That's something we're working on.