Koki Sato is General Manager of Corporate Development Department for ITOCHU Corporation. He is responsible for ITOCHU’s advanced business initiatives including digital transformation, and new business growth opportunities in mobility, energy, new materials, bio-healthcare, fintech and e- commerce. He is also CEO for ITOCHU’s corporate venture capital entity investing in VC funds and startup companies.
Background
As Senior Officer of the ICT Division, Koki Sato was responsible for a $150M+ Corporate Venture Investment Asset, with direct investments in disruptive technology companies, and major US-based VC funds. He also serves on the board of ITOCHU Technology Ventures, ITOCHU Interactive, PCHome Store (Taiwan), Inagora and Excite One (Forex social trading). Since joining ITOCHU in 1992, his 20-year experience has been in venture incubation and investment in digital media, b2c business and digital marketing, and internet-ads business. With a hands-on management approach, he has seen some new joint ventures grow to become a $3B+ company at the time of the IPO. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kyoto University.