A new Makuake project introduces "VERDA MATCHA," a green liqueur created by combining chlorella extract from Chlorella Kogyo, a producer in Chikugo, Fukuoka Prefecture, with the brewing expertise of a sake brewery in Nara Prefecture. Chlorella has long been known in Japan as a health food and supplement, but it is now gaining fresh attention overseas as algae and aquatic plants are reevaluated as sustainable food resources for the future.
Building on this global trend, the project team is reframing chlorella beyond its traditional "health food" image, pairing it with matcha to reintroduce it as an alcoholic beverage. The collaboration between two very different businesses—a chlorella manufacturer and a sake brewery, from different regions and industries—allows the product to reach audiences and sales channels beyond what either company could access alone.
While the specific funding goal and reward details aren't mentioned in the project description, the story behind the ingredients and the cross-industry collaboration give this reward-based crowdfunding campaign a compelling reason for supporters to get behind it.
Highlights
- Collaboration between businesses in different industries and regions reaches new customer bases
- An existing ingredient (chlorella) is given new value through storytelling and recontextualization
- The project taps into the global trend toward algae and sustainable food sources
Why this campaign attracts support
Editorial analysis based on publicly available information. It is not a confirmed account of why backers chose to give.
This project likely appeals to supporters because it reframes chlorella—a familiar, long-established ingredient—through the unexpected lens of matcha and alcohol. Rather than simply presenting a new product, it tells a story: a nostalgic health food ingredient is gaining fresh relevance amid a worldwide reassessment of algae as a food resource. This narrative invites supporters to back not just a product, but a broader theme of rediscovering ingredients and envisioning future food sources.
The collaboration between Chlorella Kogyo in Chikugo, Fukuoka, and a sake brewery in Nara—different in both industry and region—also helps broaden the base of support, since each partner can draw in its own existing fans, business contacts, and local community. This kind of approach, where rural primary industries and traditional craftsmanship (like sake brewing) combine with outside partners to create something new, tends to check several boxes that resonate with crowdfunding supporters: regional identity, rarity, and a strong story—making it a classic pattern for successful reward-based campaigns.
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A note from the editors
This is a great example of combining local ingredients and craftsmanship to create something new. The key is how chlorella, a long-standing health food ingredient, is reintroduced through the angle of matcha and alcohol, tapping into the global trend of reevaluating algae as a sustainable resource. The structure of partnering across regions and industries—each bringing its own customer base—is also a useful model to study. Although specific figures like the funding goal and reward details aren't publicly available, the storytelling and cross-industry collaboration offer valuable hints for small and regional businesses looking to launch their own product-based crowdfunding campaigns.