Kohei Yamamoto and Yuka Shimokawa, active members of Keisuke Honda's "X&KSK," talk about the challenges and visions facing domestic startups

X&KSK was established by Honda Keisuke to invest in Japanese startups. Going forward, the fund will invest primarily in companies with a vision to take flight globally, with the aim of creating a "decacorn" in Japan.

This time, we spoke to Yamamoto Kohei and Shimokawa Yuka, the central figures of the much-anticipated X&KSK, about the challenges facing Japanese startups that they understand because they have seen the world, the vision the fund is aiming for, and its prospects for the future.

Making a big impact on Japan through startup support

Nagatomo Hiroki (hereinafter, Nagatomo): Please tell us about your background.

Kohei Yamamoto (hereinafter Yamamoto): I first joined General Electric and began my career as a financial analyst for about three years.

After that, I joined Rakuten and worked in the California office, which is Rakuten's US headquarters. At the time, the focus was on e-commerce, and I was thinking about data strategies with an eye toward Rakuten's global expansion, such as strategies to beat Amazon.

Next, I was in charge of startup investments, and then I worked closely with Rakuten founder Hiroshi Mikitani in a secretary-like role for about three years.

I had a connection with the fund started by Keisuke Honda, and that's how I ended up joining.

Yuka Shimokawa (hereinafter Shimokawa): After graduating from a university in Japan, I joined Bank of America (then Merrill Lynch) and was involved in M&A and fundraising.

After that, I studied intellectual property at a university in San Francisco, qualified as a New York attorney, and worked at the Milken Institute, a think tank headquartered in LA.

The founder, Michael Milken, is a person everyone who wants to work on Wall Street would look up to. Many top players in the financial industry gathered around him, and many of the people at the institute also had a background in the financial industry.

The institute's Asian office was in Singapore, where I worked for nearly four years.

I was in charge of four departments at the Milken Institute. In particular, I was in charge of non-profit business development, and was in charge of running Milken's international conference, known as the "Davos of Finance," and interacted with various companies.

I was in charge of all things related to Japan, as former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike were also attending, along with other company leaders.