Company

Investor, Co-founder of DeNA

Shogo Kawada got his doctor’s degree in engineering from a graduate school at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and after working at McKinsey & Company, he co-founded DeNA Co, Ltd. in 1999 and became its director. He led the establishment of a series of business as COO. He assumed the position of part-time director in 2008 and became an advisor in 2011. Currently, he is mainly engaged in investment and support for start-up companies in Japan, US and Europe.

Salesforce Ventures Japan Head

Ken Asada graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Keio University and attained his MBA from London Business School. He began his career at IBM Japan as a system engineer, where he specialized in the development and operation of information systems for major telecom and government-affiliated companies. He went on to work as a strategy consultant at IBM Business Consulting Services, before moving to Intel Capital in 2011, where he handled investments in domestic start-up companies. In 2019, he was appointed Managing Director at NTT DOCOMO Ventures, and in April 2020, he assumed the position of Japan Head of Salesforce Ventures.

Managing Corporate Officer of Yahoo Japan Corporation

Takao Ozawa graduated from School of Law, Waseda University, and established Bizseek in 1999. In 2001, he sold Bizseek to Rakuten and joined Rakuten. In 2006, he left the Rakuten Group to take part in many investments and business establishments as a private investor. He joined Yahoo Japan Corporation in 2012, and assumed the position of executive officer and President of Shopping Company in 2013. He was an outside director for Yappli, Inc. from 2013 to 2015. In April 2018, he assumed the position of Managing Corporate Officer and President of Commerce Company of Yahoo Japan Corporation. He is also the Director & Chairperson of Ikyu Corporation, Director of ASKUL Corporation, Director of PayPay Corporation, Director of ValueCommerce Co., Ltd. and Director of User Local, Inc.