About

CEO

Keita Nakamura

Keita participated in several internships as a university student, helping launch a programming education service at CyberAgent and introducing a sentiment analysis platform for video services at DeNA. He later joined Mercari’s research and development organization—known as R4D—as an intern. Upon graduating from university in 2018, he joined Mercari full time as a blockchain engineer and was involved in the MercariX project at R4D. Keita then moved to Merpay, where he served as a PM on teams working on distributed ledger development, AML systems, and credit design. In April 2021, he moved to Mercoin as the director of the Product Division. After working as Chief Product Officer, he assumed his current role as Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Mercoin in April 2023. Starting in January 2024, he assumed a concurrent role as Vice President, Chief Product Officer (Japan Region).

CTO Fintech

Shunya Kimura

Beginning in 2007, Shunya worked at MIXI, Inc., where he was in charge of work related to recommendation engine development and data utilization. He was also involved in developing advertisements and marketing data that leverage machine learning. Shunya joined Mercari in 2017 and was in charge of establishing R4D, Mercari’s research and development organization, as well as overseeing a multitude of AI-focused research fields. After that, he established an engineering organization dedicated to AI and search engine fields, was appointed to a director role, and was one of the leaders who pioneered the introduction of AI to Mercari. In July 2022, Shunya was appointed Vice President of Platform Engineering, a position that oversees internal platform development. He has been in his current post since January 2024.

CRCO

Masahiro Shidachi

Masahiro graduated from both the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering Master’s program and the London Business School, where he was awarded a Masters in Finance with Distinction. He has been involved in a number of ventures, including working as a management strategy consultant for A.T. Kearney and developing financial risk and pricing models for NLI Research Institute. Following this, he worked on credit ratings at S&P Global until 2011 when he joined Nomura Holdings, Inc., where he was involved in global risk management for Nomura Group. In his time at Nomura Holding, Inc., he was in charge of credit risk management and enterprise risk management and worked as Managing Director, Head of Credit Risk Management of the Group and Asian Region, and Head of the Group Risk Management Head Office and Group Risk Management Department. In September 2023, Masahiro assumed the role of Merpay and Mercoin Vice President and CRO.He has been in his current position since July 2024.

Director

Masato Yamamoto

Masato completed his master’s in the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo in 2004. After working at NTT Docomo, he began working as the Head of Partner Sales in the Enterprise Division at Google Japan in 2008. In 2014, he became the Head of Business Development and Sales at Square Japan, and in 2016, he became the Head of Apple Pay Merchant Business at Apple Japan. He joined Merpay as Chief Business Officer in April 2018, where he oversaw general business operations, such as credit design and merchant development. He was appointed Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer of Merpay in January 2022; Vice President, Chief Executive Officer (Fintech) in July 2022; and Mercari Vice President, Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace) in November 2023. In January 2024, he assumed the positions of Mercari Executive Officer, Senior Vice President of Japan Region and Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace).

Director

Takeshi Nagasawa

After graduating from Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Management and Commerce in 2007, Takeshi joined NTT Communications, where he was in charge of marketing and business development. He went on to complete his MBA at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2016, he joined Amazon Japan as manager of the Amazon Prime Video marketing team. He joined bitFlyer in 2018, becoming the head of executive business strategy the following year. In 2021, he joined Merpay, where he oversaw growth for Merpay and Mercoin as Vice President of Growth (Fintech) starting in July 2022. He was appointed Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (Fintech) in April 2023 and subsequently appointed to the additional role of Vice President of Marketing (Marketplace) in June 2023. He was appointed Chief Growth Officer and Chief Executive Officer (Fintech), as well as Representative Director and Chief Executive Officer of Merpay in January 2024.

Director

Yuta Sato

Yuta completed the doctoral program (Juris Doctor [Specialist] Degree) of Waseda University’s Graduate School of Law. He passed the bar examination in 2010 After completing his practicum at The Legal Training and Research Institute of Japan, which is operated by the country’s Supreme Court, Yuta began practicing law at a Tokyo law firm. In 2014, he joined SBI Holdings. There he served as Legal and Compliance General Manager and worked on topics related to fintech involving such things as venture capital, M&A, and the establishment of joint ventures, as well as cryptoasset and blockchain technologies, and overseas money transfers. After Yuta joined Merpay in June 2018, he worked on various topics including legal, public policy, and finance; starting in January of 2021, he worked as Corporate Finance Team Manager of Mercari. In July 2021, he was appointed Director of Mercoin and assumed the role of Vice President of Corporate of Mercoin in September of the same year. In March 2023, he was appointed Merpay's Vice President of Corporate (Fintech) and oversaw the Corporate Division of Mercari Group’s fintech operations. He assumed the role of Vice President of Corporate (Work) in September 2023. She has been in her current post since January 2024.

Director

Naohisa Ichihara

Naohisa Ichihara completed a master’s degree while enrolled in the Department of Industrial Administration, one of the departments comprising the Graduate School of Science and Technology of Tokyo University of Science. In 1995, he joined NTT DATA Communications Systems Corporation (now NTT DATA Corporation). During his time at the company, Ishihara was involved in security-related work, such as IC card OS development and security consulting for online and mobile app use. In 2015, he joined LINE Corporation where he worked to remedy various security issues such as handling account takeovers by third parties. He has been in his current post since May 2025.

Director, VP of Engineering

Takahito Yamatoya

After graduating from Waseda University’s School of Social Sciences in 2007, Takahito joined NEC Nexsolutions, Ltd. Following this, he worked as a data specialist for a game production company before taking a development manager position at WHITEPLUS, Inc. In 2018, he joined bitFlyer, Inc. He held the roles of Head of SRE as well as Vice President and Head of System Development. In January 2024, he assumed his current position of Mercoin Vice President of Engineering.

Director, VP of IT Risk Security Fintech

Yuki Saito

After graduating from Ritsumeikan University in 2009, Yuki Saito joined Nikon Corporation where he was in charge of system planning and networks. In 2016, he joined a FX and cryptoasset exchange venture company, where he led corporate IT, product infrastructure, and security domains. Then, after working for PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC (now PricewaterhouseCoopers Japan LLC), in January 2020 he joined the IT Risk Management Team at Merpay. In September 2021, he became the manager of the IT Risk Management Team, and in 2023 he concurrently began overseeing Mercoin, taking charge of system risk and security in the Fintech domain as Head of IT Risk and Security. In April 2024, Yuki assumed the role of Director of Mercoin.She has been in her current post since July 2024.

Vice President of Growth Fintech

Heesung lee

After completing his master’s at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in 2024, Heesung joined Recruit Co., Ltd. as a product manager for new businesses, such as educational services and dating apps. In 2019, he joined Merpay, where he led growth for the payment and credit businesses, including Mercard. He was also in charge of the growth platform development division. He assumed his current position in July 2024.

Vice President of HR

Ai Miyakawa

After joining Dell Technologies Japan Inc.’s HR division in 2003, Ai worked on HR for Japan and the Asia-Pacific region in the areas of HR planning, compensation systems, M&As, and more. In 2014, she joined Cisco Systems G.K., and assumed the role of Head of Human Resources in August 2016. She led culture reform, engagement, and leadership initiatives at Cisco, and the company ranked #1 in Great Place to Work’s Best Workplaces in Japan (large company division) list in 2018, 2021, and 2023. In addition to her work within Cisco, she has also taken the stage in many lectures and seminars toward fulfilling her personal purpose to create the future of workstyles in Japan. She assumed her current position in April 2025.