About NEXTBLUE

Kanako Inoue

Partner

Kanako graduated from Keio University and worked in investment banking with GCA. After receiving her MBA from Kellogg School of Management in 2013, she joined BCG in Tokyo. At BCG she led projects related to new business development, M&A strategy, overseas expansion among others.
In 2016, Kanako joined D4V (Design 4 Ventures), a venture capital in partnership with IDEO, as founding member and portfolio director.

Vincent

Partner

Vincent graduated from Columbia Law School in New York in 2011. After passing the NY Bar, he moved to Tokyo and worked as a management consultant for BCG. He spent almost 5 years at BCG, working his way from Associate to Project Leader, and leading projects in the pharmaceutical and retail industries.
In 2017 to 2019, Vincent worked as a co-Portfolio Director for Design 4 Ventures (D4V), a venture capital in partnership with IDEO.
NY licensed attorney (currently inactive)
CAIA

Yuichi Kori

Partner

After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, Yuichi worked at companies such as RenRen and F-code, before then founding Otsumu in 2010. From 2015, he supported various accelerator programs (such as the program with Asahi Newspaper), and from 2017 started and began operating his own VC fund called Reality Accelerator.

Saki Oshima

Venture Partner

After receiving her MBA from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego in 2018, Saki joined Scrum Ventures in San Francisco, where she spearheaded investments in women’s health and facilitated collaborations with major Japanese corporations. Notably, she served as the only Japanese judge at significant industry pitch contests, establishing a community alongside several local VC firms to serve as a bridge between Japan and the US. Saki has also made substantial contributions to startup communities in the U.S. and Europe as a mentor. As a Japanese female investor residing in the U.S., she actively shares insights into the startup ecosystem by speaking at events and contributing to media outlets, leveraging her unique position to foster cross-cultural understanding and cooperation.

Weekly mentoring

Weekly mentoring available to help resolve key issues and determine critical next steps.

Investment

We invest from pre-seed to early stage with ticket sizes ranging up to a few million dollars.

Sales materials

We provide support and frameworks to improve tools that can meaningfully impact business development, such as sales materials and landing pages

KPI setting

NEXTBLUE and its wider network of specialists are experienced in providing KPI improvement consulting, covering topics such as onboarding, UI improvement to CVR improvement.

Sales pipeline

We assist in lead generation and supporting startups, especially foreign startups, nurture client relationships in Japan. NEXTBLUE also organizes regular events with LPs and among the startup community to connect portfolio companies with relevant stakeholders

Infrastructure

We provide ticket privileges (up to 10 million yen) for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform to supports and portfolio companies.

Fund raising

Support for fund raising includes potential additional follow-on investment from NEXTBLUE and active fund raising support (e.g. introductions and follow up with other investors)

Others

Please contact the NEXTBLUE team directly should you have additional questions. The team is happy to understand and address to your specific needs.