Akira Kurabayashi

Akira has been in the venture business for 15 years in the US and Japan and backed more than 40 enterprise software start-ups so far in his career (Hottolink(TSE Mothers), TerraSky(TSE Mothers), SynergyMarketing(Acquired by Yahoo Japan), 1st Holdings (Acquired by Orix), Shanon (TSE Mothers), Sansan, Beceem Communications (acquired by Broadcom) and Smart Signal (acquired by GE Intelligent Platforms), etc.). Akira currently serves on the boards of TeamSpirit, XICA, FROM SCRATCH, toBe Marketing, UPWARD, Mobingi, Kakehashi, and Mazrica and is a board observer at Folio. He also led the firm’s seed/early-stage investment in Combinator, Growth Hack Studio, Clintal, SYMAX, Paradiseware, Credit Engine, SImount, TaciKnowledge, and Zehitomo. Before joining Draper Nexus, Akira was Head of Japan Investment at Salesforce Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. Prior to Globespan, Akira spent 5 years at Mitsui & Co., Ltd and led the company’s venture capital activities both in the US and Japan. He was Co-Founder & Director of Mitsui’s Technology Investment Group in Silicon Valley. Previously, Akira spent 5 years at Fujitsu Limited in various roles including Corporate Development, Corporate Strategy, and Sales. Akira holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in finance and entrepreneurial management and a bachelor and Ph.D. degree in Technology and Innovation Management from Doshisha University, where he was an athlete and co-captain of the varsity volleyball team.