Ikkei Matsuda
Founder of Hokkaido VC
Ikkei is considered one of the pioneers in the incubation of university spin-offs in Japan, having played a role in more than 50 start-ups. He is the founder of Hokkaido VC – the first regional and independent venture capital firm in Japan – startup incubator SARR LLC, and blockchain startups Soramitsu and Digital Platformer.
He also serves as a director at health-tech firm Melody International, runs Kyoto-based startup accelerator Kizki, and supports Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in its Technology Commercialization Program. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Keio University, an MBA from France’s INSEAD, and a PhD in medicine from Hokkaido University.