About

Helping ideas grow beyond limits

Chief Executive Officer

In 2014, Kodama started his career as a certified financial planner and provided life planning consultation and financial products. That year, he saw a great potential in Bitcoin and began promoting cryptocurrency. He then embarked on the Cardano project with Michael Parsons and Charles Hoskinson, working on business development and promotion. Kodama founded and became CEO of EMURGO in 2017. He has a wide range of relationships with both domestic and international entrepreneurs and blockchain experts.

CIO

Since 2001, Manmeet has been building businesses from scratch across banking, investment advisory, education, trading and technology industries. Based in China and Japan since 2003, Manmeet is actively mentoring startups through Asia and Europe. He’s been appointed as Investment Promotion Consultant by the Government of Nanjing and is an advisor to the Ukrainian Association for Innovation Development. Manmeet’s lived in 10 countries across 4 continents and holds Bachelors degrees from Washington and Lee University (USA) and an MBA from SPJIMR (India).

Chief Technical Officer

Previous to working at EMURGO, Nicolás Arqueros was CEO and founder of one of the top app development companies in Chili. Within less than three years the company generated income over $1M and produced over 40 different projects. Additionally, he worked as a senior engineer for various Silicon Valley startups before joining EMURGO as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

Executive Assistant

Previous to working at EMURGO, Sumire Ono worked as an executive assistant for several firms. Additionally, she has experience working in Germany at the international business department through the Chamber of Commerce program.

Senior Manager, Business Development

Shunsuke Murasaki has 7 years of experience working in Asian markets specializing in BtoB overseas sales. Currently, he is working on business development at EMURGO in the Southeast Asian sector. He has rhythm and shows it by playing Asarato, a West African instrument. Shunsuke also loves fish and is a master spearfisher.

Senior Manager, Corporate Planning & Business Development

Yosuke Yoshida grew up in New York and graduated from Keio University in Tokyo. Following graduation, he entered Marubeni Corporation, one of the biggest general trading companies in Japan (#116 on the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list). Yosuke specialises in business development, project management for international bidding projects and business investment including M&A projects for over 15 years, mainly in the SE Asia region.

Senior Manager, Corporate Department

Akihiro Yabe has 4 years of consulting experience in developing strategic business plans, M&A, CS survey, branch optimization, workload analysis. Additionally, he has 6+ years of audit experience in financial and commercial industries.

Investment Group

Kyle graduated from Western Michigan University with a concentration in International Business and Japanese. Following graduation, he returned to Japan in early 2016. His interest in blockchain began to grow in January 2017, soon after joining the Cardano team. His hobbies include audio gear, music, movies and games.

Manager, Public Relations

Shunsuke Mitsumoto graduated from Niigata University and is an accredited PR planner. Following graduation, he joined NTT Communication, the largest telecom company in Japan. Previous to joining EMURGO, Shunsuke worked for various conglomerates as a PR officer handling brand management and media relations.

R&D Engineering Lead

Graduating with an Honors in computer science and a minor in mathematics, Sebastien worked as a software engineer at Microsoft before becoming interested in the research and development of Cardano. Sebastien joined Emurgo where he now works on R&D and education.

ICO Consultant

After graduating Vancouver Island University, Takahiro joined NTT Deta Getronics, a subsidiary to the biggest IT company in Japan, and Recruit, Japan's biggest HR and lifestyle media company. He's been engaged in developing new products and services through vast coverage of professions ranging from product development, business development, and sales and marketing.

Human Resources

Previous to joining EMURGO, Shigetaka Doi worked as an HR Generalist in a global IT company. At EMURGO, he recruits new grads, mid-level executives and works with employees on developing talent and PMI.

Accounting & Finance

Previous to working at EMURGO, Yutaka Kobayashi worked as an accountant and admin staff at multinational and several start-up companies for several years. He has experience in corporate planning, IT system implementation, business process management.

Finance Manager

Previous to joining EMURGO, Kazuhiro Sato worked for various financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and KPMG Japan as a finance and tax professional. He specialises in international tax planning, M&A structuring, transfer price area as well as day-to-day accounting and tax compliance. At EMURGO, Kazuhiro manages the global investment and funding structure.

Human Resources

Ryuta Toida graduated from Tokyo Keizai University with a major in Southeastern Asian Economics. He studied economics in Cambodia and interned at EMURGO for 6 months before joining the company in 2018. He has travelled to many countries and cycled from Tokyo through Western Japan. Ryuta enjoys outdoor activities.

Corporate Development

Previous to joining EMURGO, Takumi Sezaki worked as a lecturer at a computer school. He additionally spent various years working for a foreign-affiliated life insurance company. At EMURGO, he is responsible for general affairs and meetups.

Business Development

Alicia Fumita was born and raised in the United States, after living in the US for 15 years she moved to Japan. She has worked as a translator and interpreter for Yahoo Japan in the engineering unit. In her spare time, she enjoys figure-skating has done so competitively for over 10 years.