Our Team

Naohide Une

Senior Partner / Founder

Naohide Une is a Senior Partner and Co-Founder of Investment Lab. In 2020, driven by a deep desire to contribute his knowledge and experience to address societal challenges, he embarked on a new chapter in his professional career by establishing the company Investment Lab.

At Investment Lab, Naohide runs overall business as CEO and also has been involved in leading projects in circular recycling, HR tech, Fintech, and others in Venture capital business. He also looks over portfolio development and risk management in the Listed Equity Funds business.

Prior to co-founding Investment Lab, from 2015, Naohide joined Japan Post Bank, one of the world’s largest investors with over 200 trillion yen in assets under management. As Managing Director, he layed a key role in the investment strategy reform, contributing to the overall growth of the organization. Since 2018, he held the position of Executive Officer and have been a member of the management committee in the market division of the bank where his responsibilities include actively participating in the bank's overall management and being involved in investment selection for numerous funds globally.

Furthermore, he excelled in various leadership roles, including serving as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and overseeing the launch of Japan's largest private equity fund. In this capacity, he was responsible for formulating business strategies, managing internal operations, and implementing effective risk management practices. He also played a pivotal role in evaluating and executing a wide range of investment opportunities, such as such as buyouts, venture growth, and deep-tech deals across Japan and the Asian region. buyouts, venture growth, and technology projects across Japan and the Asian region. Notably, he had been involved in high-profile initiatives, such as partnering with a major SaaS company specializing in marketing platforms and a real-tech company driving the implementation of power semiconductor technology.

He specialized in Chemical Systems Engineering during his studies at university and graduate school. He achieved notable accomplishments as a fresh graduate at a foreign Investment Bank where they he led a trading team in the Asian region.

He holds a Master's degree in Chemical Systems Engineering from the University of Tokyo, as well as an MBA in finance from Waseda University.

Teruaki Asano

Vice President

Teruaki Asano joined Investment Lab in February 2022 because he resonated with the company’s vision to use financial experts to support businesses that can innovate and help solve social issues.

Before joining Investment Lab, Teruaki was named CFO of a real estate venture company in 2020, where he was involved in the company’s cash management and venture investments.

Beginning in 2005, Teruyuki worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was based in the finance department and was responsible for P/L and B/S monitoring, valuations, and new transaction due diligence for various financial instruments, including derivatives, private equities, real estate, and others.

He holds a B.A. in Economics from Rikkyo University, an MBA from Waseda University Graduate School of Finance. He is a CFA® charterholder and passed US CPA exam.

Shu Kajimoto

Vice President

Shu Kajimoto joined Investment Lab in 2020, motivated to leverage the power of investment to build an affluent society. He has been involved in planning and formulating the company’s internal structure from the early stages of its establishment. Since the start of operations, he has been engaged in investment research work across the domains of listed and unlisted companies.

Shu previously worked at Japan Post Bank beginning in 2017, where was engaged in establishing and operating a department for proprietary investments that employed equity-related hedge fund strategies and in planning and formulating the operational structure. After the start of operations, he led the automation and streamlining of operations using programming and other methods. He also has personal experience as a trader and has been involved in the trading business.

He holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University and an MBA from Waseda University, where he graduated at the top of his class.

Takeshi Kanamaru

Vice President

In September 2021, Takeshi Kanamaru brought his knowledge of the media business and communications to Investment Lab, where he aims to build financial sector experience and contribute to the financial industry and its vital role as a catalyst of corporate and economic activity.

Takeshi began his carrer in 2015 at Dentsu, where he worked for six and a half years and oversaw the media section. In addition to buying commercial slots, he was engaged in TV-focused PR opportunities and developing new businesses in line with sponsors’ needs while utilizing the resources of each broadcasting station.

He graduated from Keio University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Joe (Yosuke) Kimura

Partner / COO

Joe (Yosuke) Kimura is the COO(Chief Operating Officer) and is in charge of Internal Controls & Operations of Investment Lab. His strong passion to create a better society through the power of investments motivated him to join Investment Lab in 2020 as one of its founding members.

Before joining Investment Lab, he co-founded a hedge fund firm in 2018 and established its asset management business in Japan as its Director/COO.

Joe started his career back in 1999 at Nomura Securities as a financial consultant, and won a company-sponsored scholarship to study at US business school. After his MBA, he spent 5 years at Nomura USA (New York) in Japanese Equity Sales and served major US institutional investors & hedge fund clients. In 2010, he moved to the newly-created Prime Brokerage business unit, became the Head of Prime Finance Japan, and gained extensive experience in supporting various hedge fund firms in Japan/Asia.

He graduated from the University of Tsukuba with a bacherlor’s degree in International Studies, and completed his MBA from Georgetown University, USA.

Yasuharu Sugimura

Senior Partner / Founder

Yasuharu Sugimura is a Senior Partner and Co-Founder of Investment Lab. His experience as an active cancer patient motivated him to co-found Investment Lab, which he hopes will contribute to the development of a sustainable and prosperous society where diverse people can thrive and play active roles. Since the company’s founding, he has been taking a lead in calmly assessing business growth potential from both bottom-up and macro perspectives based on his in-depth, cross-market and cross-thematic coverage of both listed and unlisted companies. In our VC business, he has led AI image recognition retail tech, ad-tech and food tech projects.

Prior to joining Investment Lab, Yasuharu worked in institutional sales at Deutsche Bank Securities Japan Equity Sales Department, beginning in 2017. This role followed successful stints at BNP Paribas Securities from 2013, where he was in in charge of its real estate and transportation industries and from 2006 at Goldman Sachs, where he covered the transportation (rail, truck, logistics, air and sea transport) industry and Asian Equities at the firm’s Investment Research Department.

Beginning in 2001, Yasuharu was a corporate research analyst at Mizuho Securities’ Equity Research Department, where he oversaw small- and mid-cap stocks, software, electronic components, semiconductors, and precision instruments industries. Prior to that, he supported regional financial institutions and engaged in corporate sales at Nomura Securities from 1998. As a corporate research analyst, Yasuharu emphasizes top-down analysis of macroeconomic and policy issues and bottom-up analysis through discussions with corporate management, business unit personnel, industry experts, and others. In addition to supporting large-scale businesses with trillion-yen market caps, Yasuharu has also helped domestic and global mid-size companies to grow their market capitalization from 10 billion yen to 100 billion yen shortly following their IPO.

He Graduated from University of Keio with BA in Economics.

Chiho Zen

Auditor

Chiho Zen has supported Investment Lab as an auditor since the company’s inception in 2020, contributing to the development of the company’s internal control system.

Chiho’s career has seen her work both at domestic law firms supporting Japanese financial institutions and foreign law firms supporting the activities of foreign funds. In the latter case, she focused on representing managers of foreign hedge funds and private equity funds, advising them on capital-raising activities in Japan. In 2021, she joined a major law firm in Japan, where she continues to work on various matters related to fund formation and financial regulations.

She became a registered lawyer in 2013 and holds a Bachelor’s degree from Doshisha University, a Master’s degree from Chiba University Graduate School of Law, and a Master’s degree from University College London (MSc).

Mei Tsuji

Vice President

Mei Tsuji joined Investment Lab in 2021 with the desire to more closely observe and learn from the investment scene.

Mei joined Investment Lab from Nomura Securities. After Nomura Securities acquired Lehman’s Japan Business in 2008, she spent nearly 12 years at Nomura servicing electronic trading clients. With her knowledge in listed derivatives, she was in charge of client services for Global Listed Derivatives trading for many years. In 2018, she also expanded her servicing areas to Japanese Equities and has assisted providing algorithmic trading in line with clients’ needs.

She started her career in 2005 at Lehman Brothers Japan after graduating from the Faculty of Law at Keio University. At Lehman, she was responsible for listed derivatives settlement, clearing, and client services in the Operations Department. In an effort to improve operational efficiency, she led system upgrade projects and clearing system implementation projects.

Akane Doi

Vice President

Akane Doi joined Investment Lab in 2021 to support the growth of startup companies and provide a wide range of investors with alternative investment opportunities in Japan, which are still under-served.

Prior to Investment Lab, Akane worked at an independent domestic investment management firm, where she handled alternative strategies, such as private equity and private debt, and institutional investor sales focused on corporate pension funds, beginning in 2017. From 2008, She joined Nikko Cordial Securities (now SMBC Nikko Securities), where she engaged in retail sales to high-net-worth individuals and corporations at the branch-office level. From headquarters, she was engaged in sales support and was responsible for RFPs at the Public Benefit Corporations Department.

She graduated from Waseda University’s Faculty of Social Sciences.