Yusuke Asakura

Founding Partner | General Partner @ Animal Spirits

About

💰 Now founding partner at Animal Spirits – seed & early-stage VC for startups shaping the future 💼 Ex-CEO of Mixi – grew market cap from ¥18B to ¥500B 🚀 Built & sold Naked Technology → Acquired by Mixi 🇺🇸 Stanford visiting scholar / Ex-McKinsey 🌱 Co-founded Signifiant & launched THE FUND (late-stage VC) 🏇 Ex-jockey turned entrepreneur & VC 📘 Best-selling author of “Financial Thinking”

Country

Japan

City

Greater Tokyo Area

Industry

Venture Capital & Private Equity

Skill

ベンチャーキャピタル, 起業, Management Consulting, Start-ups, Start-up Operations, Exit Strategies, Exits, Horses, Horseback Riding, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networking Sites, Turnaround, KPI, Operations, Japanese, Business Strategy, Competitive Analysis, Corporate Development, Strategic Partnerships

Experience

Founding Partner | General Partner

Animal Spirits

2022-8 - Present · 4 yrs 2 mos

東京都

Investing in bold founders driving social change for the next generation – Seed & early-stage VC at Animal Spirits.

Advisor

Startup Ecosystem Association Japan

2022-10 - Present · 4 yrs

Co-Founder

Signifiant Inc.

2017-7 - Present · 9 yrs 3 mos

Tokyo

Founded Signifiant Inc. and launched THE FUND, one of Japan’s largest growth-stage VC platforms, investing in 30+ startups including SmartHR, Timee, AstroScale, Basefood, and Neural Pocket.

Founding Partner

Tokyo Founders Fund

2015-7 - Present · 11 yrs 3 mos

Tokyo Founders Fund, founded by 8 Japanese entrepreneurs with successful exits and IPOs, invests in promising startups globally at pre-seed and seed stages. Invested in 40+ startups, including successful exits like Paystack ($200M+).

Outside Director

Septeni

2017-12 - 2024-3 · 6 yrs 4 mos

Tokyo, Japan

TYO:4293

Visiting Scholar

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

2017-2 - 2020-10 · 3 yrs 9 mos

Tokyo

The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) is a leading international policy school dedicated to advancing democratic governance. We offer interdisciplinary education for future public sector leaders and conduct research to develop innovative policy solutions.

Outside Director

RAKSUL

2015-5 - 2019-10 · 4 yrs 6 mos

Tokyo, Japan

Raksul is a fabless company that operates a commercial printing service. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2018 (TYO:4384).

Outside Director

Loco Partners, Inc. (Relux)

2016-3 - 2017-3 · 1 yr 1 mo

Tokyo, Japan

Loco Partners is a company that operatess an online accommodation booking website. Acquried by KDDI(TYO:9433) in 2017.

Visiting Scholar

Stanford University

2014-11 - 2016-12 · 2 yrs 2 mos

President and CEO

MIXI, Inc

2011-9 - 2014-12 · 3 yrs 4 mos

Tokyo, Japan

- Turned around loss-making business into profitability - Scaled market cap from ¥18B to ¥500B in just 1 year via M&A, new businesses, and core profit growth