The sea and islands seen from our development site

Investors

One surface-treatment technology, carried across the marine industries.

Our core business is antifouling for ship propellers and fishing nets. We hold the treatment conditions — the recipe — as a trade secret and grow by licensing the performance it delivers. We walk investors through our business and funding plans in person.

Start with processing, scale through licensing.

We start with a processing service, treating parts in-house. From there, we license the performance of the treatment to shipyards, marine equipment makers and fishing net manufacturers.

What we’ve learned by putting it in the sea

  • The brass propeller used in the trial

    Kure (Marine Craft Kazenoko)

    A treated brass propeller kept its antifouling effect for 12 months. Treated glass also held up for 12 months.

  • A treated float after 12 months in the sea at Hakodate

    Hakodate

    A treated float stayed clean for 12 months.

  • An untreated float and rope, with algae growing on themUntreated
    A treated float on a ropeTreated

    KAKEN grant 22K04725 (published report)

    On 16 mm vinylon rope and polyethylene floats, far less algae and shellfish settled for more than six months. We have also confirmed a lasting effect on 2 mm rope and on ship propellers.

  • The raft we use for trials at Kure

    Under way now

    We are continuing rope trials at Kure.

See the full trial results

What keeps life off can also help it take hold.

Eelgrass growing from treated rope

  • Bringing back eelgrass beds

    Eelgrass takes root on our treated rope. Our trial off Kurahashi Island has been running since December 2023, and in February 2024 we confirmed germination and root growth. We are running trials in the Ariake Sea as well.

  • Rice husks for better soil

    We are researching how to treat rice husks so they become a material that improves farm soil.

Telling ships where the oyster rafts are.

A raft at sea, with a bridge behind it

Hiroshima Bay is dotted with oyster rafts. Using satellite radar images, we were able to find 85% of them. Each raft carries a small beacon (IKAK), and the smartphones of passing boats pick up its signal. We don’t record which boat relayed it, and we never publish where boats or fishers have been. The raft positions we gather go back out as information that helps ships pass safely.

With universities, the community and people who work the sea.

Our development site at Marine Craft Kazenoko’s 2nd factory

  • Hiroshima University, JST COI-NEXT

    Since October 2025 we have been one of the consortium companies in Hiroshima University’s COI-NEXT centre for a marine cultural city built on ocean remote sensing.

  • Town & Gown joint research (Kure City and Hiroshima University)

    A four-way project with Hiroshima University, Marine Craft Kazenoko and Inet (contract signed March 2026).

  • Technical supervision

    Kensuke Kuroda supervises the technology in a personal capacity.
    Representative, Nagoya Surface Technology
    Specially Appointed Professor, Institute of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University (2020–)

Recent awards and selections

Feb 2026
Selected for the Nature Governance Startup Program, part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s TOKYO SUTEAM
Nov 2025
Mirai Works Booster 2025: Okumura Corporation Prize
Sep 2025
Selected for the FY2025 Noto Startup Attraction Survey Project
Dec 2024
MITANI Business Contest 2024: DEFTA Partners Prize and Business Engineering Prize
See our track record

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