Startup Genome launched the first cohort of the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo late-stage scaling program in March 2024 in partnership with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The initiative aims to propel the best Tokyo tech companies into successful global commercialization and expansion into international target markets.

The program addresses a significant support gap for fast-growing startups, recognizing them as drivers of economic growth and competitiveness, and creators of sustainable jobs and societal wellbeing. In its inaugural cohort, Hypergrowth provides 21 companies from Tokyo with access to global mentors, expert scaling advice from leading executives, go-to market support, and connections to potential new customers and investors.

The companies selected represent a variety of sub-sectors, including Deep Tech, Life Sciences, and AI, and have raised close to $100 million in total funding as they look to expand overseas.

In this article series, Startup Genome introduces the cohort companies, exploring the groundbreaking technologies each startup is developing to make a positive impact on the world.

Introducing Sustainability Startup TBM

Tokyo-based startup TBM is revolutionizing recycling with its limestone-based paper and plastic substitute, LIMEX. Made with less than half of the petroleum-derived resin of typical plastic, the award-winning product is already used by more than 10,000 companies and local governments.

LIMEX is primarily derived from limestone, an “almost inexhaustible” resource in Japan. When mixed with plastic and poured into molds, the rock can be converted into a myriad of products, ranging from food packaging to printing paper. After introducing its first product of LIMEX business cards in 2016, TBM now produces plastic folders, food containers, grocery bags, cosmetics containers, and more. TBM’S LIMEX product portfolio includes LIMEX Pellet, a substitute for plastic, LIMEX Sheet, a paper substitute, and additional products such as printed matter and bags.

LIMEX contains at least 50% of inorganic material such as calcium carbonate, reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to petroleum-based plastics. It can be manufactured with existing plastic molding machinery and recycled the same way as products made from a single material.

Though most of its current product development takes place in Arakawa City, Tokyo, TBM has approved basic patents for LIMEX in more than 40 countries, where it works with local partners, trains local employees, and creates local jobs by building regional factories. The company has established business alliances for local production in Mongolia and China and has established a subsidiary in Vietnam.

LIMEX is registered in the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) Sustainable Technology Dissemination Platform as an excellent Japanese technology.