Directors
Chairman
Tohru Akaura
Incubate Fund(General Partner & Co-Founder)
August 7, 1968:Born March 1991:Graduated from the School of Engineering(control engineering), Tokai University April 1991:Joined Japan Associated Finance Co., Ltd.(now JAFCO Co., Ltd.) and engaged as investment professional at Tokyo / Hiroshima office for eight and half years October 1999:Established as independent venture capitalist. Since then, he has raised JPY 27.5 billion through 11 VC funds and consistently engaged in the seed-stage focused investment and incubation April 2003:Councilor of Information-technology Promotion Agency (2003-2008) May 2005:Got the 2nd IPA Award(commercialization support dept.) July 2013:Director of JVCA July 2015:Managing Director of JVCA
Chairman
Shinzo Nakano
ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc(President and CEO)
Shinzo Nakano is President & CEO of Itochu Technology Ventures, Inc.(ITV). ITV is a subsidiary of Itochu Corporation, one of the largest trading conglomerates in Japan. He founded ITV in 2000 as a general partner and raised its first fund for $83M from Itochu Corp and other institutional investors. He was named President and CEO of ITV in 2015 and currently runs its 5th fund. ITV invests in IT related startups in Japan and abroad. He received BA in Law at Keio University and joined Itochu Corporation in 1989.
Vice Chairman
Tomotaka Goji
UTEC:The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners(Managing Partner, CEO and President)
Dr. Goji is Co-founder, Managing Partner, CEO & President of UTEC and Managing Director of JVCA. Since the inception of UTEC in 2004, he has raised and managed five funds totaling approximately JPY 85 billion, built the investment team, and guided UTEC’s investments. 14 investees were acquired and 18 have achieved IPO until June 2022. He has also researched on data science to analyze success factors of academic startups. In his previous career at the Japanese government, he authored "The Limited Partnership Act for Venture Capital Investment" in 1997-1998, which became the foundation of Japanese VC funds thereafter, at the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, now known as METI: the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). He left the government to initiate UTEC in 2004, after engaging in legislation at the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Financial Services Agency. He graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law, earned his MBA at Stanford University, and received his Ph.D. in data science from the University of Tokyo. At JVCA, he has addressed policy issues including the amendments of Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and Foreign exchange Act since 2014.
Vice Chairman
Soichi Tajima
Genesia Ventures, Inc.(President/General Partner)
Soichi Tajima founded Genesia Ventures in 2016, which focuses on seed-round startups in Japan and Southeast Asia. And focuses on revitalizing the industry as a Vice Chairman of the Japan Venture Capital Association (JVCA). Prior to Genesia Ventures, Soichi joined CyberAgent Ventures, which is the CVC of CyberAgent in 2005 and was appointed CEO in 2010. He led the effort on expansion of investment area and developed the investment strategy. Previously he spent 8 years at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and experienced financial businesses such as consumer and business loans, syndicated loan, liquidation of credit receivable, etc. He graduated from Osaka University in Engineering.
Vice Chairman
Shinsuke Sakamoto
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd(President)
Shinsuke Sakamoto joined MUFG Bank, former Sanwa Bank, in 1987. He led various strategic initiatives of Corporate Banking Division of the bank and served as General Manager of Naha Branch, General Manager of Operation Planning Office, Corporate Banking Business Planning Division,　General Manager of Fukuoka Branch and General Manager of Credit Division (Osaka). In 2017, he joined Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Corporation as Representative Director and Deputy President. He was appointed as President of Mitsubishi UFJ Capital in June, 2019.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.
Senior Managing Director
Makoto Takano
D4V LLC(CEO & GP)
linkties Co., Ltd.(CEO and Founder of Forbes JAPAN)
Mr. Takano is CEO & GP of D4V, CEO and Founder of Forbes JAPAN, linkties Co., Ltd., and CEO of MT Partners.
Mr. Takano co-founded D4V (Design for Ventures), with IDEO in 2016. Mr. Takano’s prior experience includes work at Daiwa Securities, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and PIMCO Japan, where he served as President for 13 years. He also founded MT Partners in 2007, joined Atomixmedia Inc. (currently linkties Co., Ltd.) in 2014 to spearhead the launch of its Forbes JAPAN magazine. He currently serves as CEO of each of the companies. Mr. Takano has published extensively on the capital markets. He holds an MS and BS in Science and Engineering from Waseda University.
Senior Managing Director
Yuichi Moronaga
JAPAN INVESTMENT CORPORATION(Member of the Board Chief Strategy Officer)
"2000　Joined Ministry of International Trade and Industry
2015　Director, Intellectual Property Policy Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, METI
2018　Director, Fukushima New Industries and Employment Promotion Office, Fukushima Reconstruction Promotion Group, METI
2020　Director, Office for Healthcare Goods Supply Continuity Strategy, METI
2021　Director, Industry Creation Policy Division, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, METI, and General Planning Coordinator, Startup Creation Promotion Office, METI
2022　Member of the Board & Chief Strategy Officer, Japan Investment Corporation"
Managing Director
David Milstein
Eight Roads Ventures Japan(Managing Partner, Head of Japan)
David Milstein is the head of Eight Roads Ventures Japan, the venture capital and principle investment business for Fidelity in Japan. Early in his career, David worked for Asahi Glass and then was a founder of Japan Transaction Partners. He then joined the Walt Disney Company Japan where as VP of the Interactive Media Group, he was responsible for building and launching the Disney Mobile MVNO service. This business drove the division to its largest revenue and profit ever. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Managing Director
Sueko Matsumoto
JAFCO Group Co., Ltd.(Corporate and Fund Planning Officer)
In 1990, joined JAFCO Group Co., Ltd. After working in investment legal affairs and portfolio company information management, involved in fund planning since 1998, and since 1999 has been involved in the planning and offering of all funds launched by Jafco, developing of reporting, registration of financial instruments business operators, legal affairs related to funds, and investor relations.
In 2017, appointed as Executive Officer (in charge of fund management and administration).
involved in all corporate operations, with a particular focus on the building the partnership model, as well as branding.
Director
Gen Isayama
WiL, LLC (World Innovation Lab)(CEO and Co-Founder)
Gen is the CEO and Co-Founder of WiL, LLC (World Innovation Lab), an organization dedicated to accelerating and promoting open innovation in large corporations across Japan. Funded by enterprises from various industries, WiL provides investment capital and strategic guidance to Japanese startups entering the global market as well as overseas ventures entering the Japanese market. In addition, WiL incubates new businesses by leveraging unused IP and resources in large corporations, facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship. Born and raised in Tokyo, Gen joined IBJ (now Mizuho Financial Group) after graduating Tokyo University and moved to Silicon Valley in 2001 to attend Stanford Business School. After graduation, Gen joined DCM Ventures, one of the top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firms, and worked as a partner until the summer of 2013.