Introducing Tokyo’s FinTech startup scene
The financial industry today is being challenged by new digital services and business models regarding payment systems, funding and investment schemes, insurance related applications as well as data security solutions. Many of these innovations arise from startup ventures. The number of FinTech and InsureTech startups is large and they are spread around the globe, which makes it hard to track developments and to predict from where new winning applications or even business revolutions will come. An increasingly active, but still largely neglected startup ecosystem for FinTech and InsureTech solutions has been developing in Japan, especially in Tokyo.
We are inviting entrepreneurs and business angels from the Tokyo based FinTech and InsureTech startup scene to present the most up-to-date business ideas, solutions and visions to a professional German audience comprised of representatives from the German financial industry as well as venture capitalists and startups.
The planned event will contribute to bridging the gap in knowledge about Tokyo’s startup scene while at the same time providing a platform for exchanging ideas and for networking between new Japanese entrepreneurs and established German financial service providers.
Speakers
Ikuo C. Hiraishi Sunbridge Global Ventures
Ikuo C. Hiraishi, CEO of SunBridge Global Ventures Inc. He has been involved in Internet related business since the late 1990s and participated in the planning and setup of WebCrew Inc., whose “automobile insurance price comparison web service” became a hit and was later listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers. In 2000, he co- founded and became the CEO ofInterscope, Inc., which was sold off to Yahoo! Japan in 2007, and later merged with Macromill in 2010. In March 2011, he assumed the position of Tokyo Officer of SunBridge’s seed acceleration activities, and in May same year, in cooperation with Yasushi Takeuchi of VentureNow, he launched “Innovation Weekend“, a pitch event and networking platform for early stage startups and angel investors. In January 2012, he co-founded SunBridge Global Ventures Inc. and became its president & CEO (current position). In addition, he presently serves as visiting professor at Hosei University Graduate School of Business Administration (MBA), and outside director of several startups.
Kaz Ohmae Crowdbank Japan
President at Crowd Securities Japan, Inc. He started his career at a conventional commercial bank in Japan from where he moved into the finance x internet arena, working as a founding member of online pure-play bank and social lending company. He now dedicates himself to manage investment-based crowd funding business in Tokyo by tapping into his experience gained at his previous companies. His passion is always around innovative online financial services that empower individuals as is the case with other online businesses which have destroyed incumbent industries dominated by big guys. His crowd Securities Japan, Inc. is a pure-play crowd-funding securities firm based in Tokyo, Japan. The company is established to bring in the power of crowd to make a difference on finance space. It is based on the belief that the internet and mobile communication will fundamentally change finance land scape for social good.
Naoko Samata Coiney
Founder and CEO of Coiney. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, she joined Paypal in 2009 to establish the Japanese subsidiary of the company. She was in charge of retail marketing, promoting the introduction of PayPal services to online service providers and e-commerce shops. In 2013 she founded Coiney, a startup that produces credit card and payment devices. From her experience with PayPal she had learned that only about 20 percent of Japanese merchants are using non-cash payment methods. Coiney allows them to settle bills with their customers using their smartphone.
Takashi Okita SBI Ripple Asia
CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, the Joint Venture between Japanese online financial conglomerate SBI Holdings and Ripple, global leader of distributed financial system. Prior to Ripple Asia, OKITA co-founded and served as CEO of VeriTrans Inc., a leading online payment solution provider in Japan. He tried to expand the business across Asia, including the JVs in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. He also co-founded econtext Asia in HK and went public in 2013. Now serves at the Board and Advisor level at several public/startup companies. Elected as one of “100 people to Change Japan” at Nikkei Business in 2014. Also served for Japanese Government as a committee member of some councils.
Teppei Sakano Allm
Teppei Sakano, founder and CEO of Allm. Born in Mie Prefecture, Mr. Sakano spent eight years of his schooling in the US. In 2001 he graduated from the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Waseda University and founded SkillUpJapan Corporation, an internet platform for media and contents integration. The company successfully grew and diversified into related businesses that were consequently spun off into new companies. When, in 2015, the core company expanded into IT health business, its name was changed into Allm. In 2016, Allm’s service “Join”, a program allowing doctors the joint diagnosis of patient data via the internet, became the first of its kind to be recognised by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour for coverage within the National Health Insurance. Allm has already expanded internationally. Among its global partners are Siemens and Boehringer Ingelheim.
