TEAM

Ko Kusumi is the president and CEO of KYOTO-iCAP since April 2020. He was an Executive Officer of KYOTO-iCAP from 2014 to 2020. Prior to this appointment, he was in charge of financing support services, including securitization and syndication, in Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, where he used his financing skills to match the needs of many corporations.
At SMBC venture capital, he managed the buyout fund as the chief of the PE section, and participated in management as an outside board member and advisor for many investments to support the companies. He is a graduate of Faculty of Law, Keio University.

Currently an Investment Officer at KYOTO-iCAP, Dr Nobuhiro Yagi earned a PhD in pharmaceutical Sciences and accrued over 20 years of experience in industry before joining KYOTO-iCAP. He worked for Kyowa Hakko Kirin for 18 years and assumed many different positions, including R&D and Business Development of Biopharmaceutical products. He also served as a scientist for several academic research institutes such as Kyoto University, RIKEN, Tokyo University, and UC San Diego. He has obtained extensive experience in the planning and management of open innovation through industry-academia collaboration and in the development of intellectual property strategies in considering commercialization. In his present position, he focuses on technology driven startups based on Biology, Material science, and Mechanical engineering.

Dr. Hiroyuki Ueno earned his PhD from Osaka University and presently serves as an officer for Kyoto University Innovation Capital. He has invested in life science and healthcare companies and has held board director or observer roles in such firms, including Chordia TX, Thyas, Drawbridge Health, AlphaNavi Pharma, Kola-Gen Pharma, and CleanHearing in the KYOTO-iCAP portfolio. His previous positions include work as a Fellow for Sumitomo Dainippon Pharmaceutical Company and Principal Scientist for Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. He is a widely published author in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, physiology, and drug discovery.

Osami Kono joined KYOTO-iCAP in April 2016 and now leads the Business Development Group with the additional charge of officer in the Investment Group. While at KYOTO-iCAP, He has invested several startups that include cell therapy biotech and new material companies. Before entering KYOTO-iCAP, He spent three years as a researcher with a chemical manufacturer and twenty years as a staff writer at Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. While at Nikkei BP, he covered biotech, finance, heavy industry, IT, etc., and wrote more than three thousand articles. He holds a B.E. in Polymer Chemistry from Kyoto University and an M.A. in Management Science from Tsukuba University.

Kan-ichi Ishihara, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), joined KYOTO iCAP in March 2021. He has professional experiences at DEFTA Capital, as a venture capitalist and at a major audit firm, as an auditor.  He has contributed IPO supports and audits for university oriented-ventures and a venture capital itself.  He also contributed to establish an investment schemes for an university-related venture capital. 　Furthermore, he has excellent skills to connect venture companies or academia researches with large companies in his open innovation activities.  He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University.

Kenichi Yotsumoto was in charge of starting companies and funds in Japan and abroad including establishing the iPS Academia Japan, Inc. with Kyoto University, while he was employed in Daiwa Corporate Investment Co., Ltd. and also lectured at several universities, supporting their entrepreneurship education curriculums. Since December 2014, he has been in charge of KYOTO-iCAP. He graduated from the Kyoto University Faculty of Science.

Masayoshi Ohbayashi worked on application development and quality management in Toyobo Co., Ltd. He contributed to the increased adoption and order volume for his company’s products by performing market research, prototype production in the laboratory, licensing, and providing know-how to users. He also established know-how for production and quality control for mass production of developed products. While in charge of the production line in the factory, Ohbayashi managed the production conditions and quality control. His major was systems engineering at the Department of Textile Science and Technology of Shinshu University (master’s degree). He has been in charge of investment in KYOTO-iCAP since January 2017.

Nobuya Hashizume has been in charge of medical device development at Shimadzu Corporation for 14 years. He has experience as a project leader in planning new businesses, developing equipment, commercializing and developing markets.
He has been in charge of investment in KYOTO-iCAP since January 2020. He graduated from the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University with a master's degree.

Yoshiki Murata joined Investment Group of KYOTO iCAP in January 2021 being a secondee from The Bank of Kyoto. Prior to joining KYOTO iCAP, he has been in charge of corporate sales at The Bank of Kyoto for 10 years, supporting more than 400 companies of various industries. In this job, he was always beside his clients, helped them to find their challenges and solutions about not only financing but also every aspect of businesses.

Dr. Naoki Inoue joined Investment Group of KYOTO iCAP in February 2021 being a secondee from Astellas Pharma Inc. He earned his PhD from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University. Prior to joining KYOTO iCAP, he has been in charge of pharmacological research at Astellas Pharma Inc. He was mainly involved in early-stage projects in the field of muscle and aging, including drug target discovery and development candidate acquisition. He has experience in joint research with overseas universities and managing internal innovation activities.

Masahiro Shinohara joined KYOTO iCAP in April 2021. He has various experiences in creating new businesses based on new technologies. Prior to joining KYOTO iCAP, he engaged in providing consulting services such as business strategy, new business development, business due diligence, with his customers in chemical and healthcare industries at Arthur D. Little Japan. Before Arthur D. Little, he worked for Teijin Limited at chemical product business development, where he was responsible for acquiring new customers in Japan, and overseas and accelerating investment in new production lines. He holds a master degree from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University.