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 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, and after serving as CPO, he assumed his current position in April 2023.

CRCO

Akira Inoue

Akira Inoue graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Hokkaido University. In 1982, he joined Sumitomo Bank (now Mitsui Sumitomo Bank) before going on to work at Daiwa Securities SB Capital Markets. In 2005, he was appointed COO of Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments ahead of becoming CEO of the company in 2008. He next served as Managing Executive Officer of SMBC Nikko Securities before assuming the role of Group Deputy CRO for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. In 2019, he became the Senior Managing Director and Internal Control Manager for SMBC Nikko Securities. He has been the CRCO for Merpay and Mercoin since September 2021. Inoue is in charge of assessing AML/AFC, compliance, and risk.

Executive Director

Naoki Aoyagi

After working at Deutsche Bank, Naoki moved to GREE, where he held the positions of CFO, CEO of GREE’s US corporation, and general manager. In November 2017, he assumed the role of Merpay CEO. His responsibilities included promoting Mercari’s payment and financial businesses utilizing his expertise of the financial and tech industries on a global scale. He took on the role of Chief Executive Officer of Mercoin, Inc. in April 2021, and Senior Vice President of Japan Region of Mercari, Inc. in January 2022. In June 2023, he was appointed to the additional role of Chief Executive Officer (Marketplace).

Executive Director

Masato Yamamoto

Masato Yamamoto 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 CBO in April 2018, where he oversaw general business operations, such as credit design and merchant development. He was appointed CEO of Merpay in January 2022, taking on a dual role as a Director for Mercoin in July 2022.

Executive Director

Keisuke Sogawa

Keisuke Sogawa completed his studies at the Graduate School of Informatics at Kyoto University, and joined an IPA Mitou Youth company in 2011. He went on to launch WebPay at FluxFlex in Silicon Valley. As the Chief Technology Officer of WebPay, he developed the service infrastructure for credit card payment services. He also worked on the LINE Pay business as part of the LINE Group. He joined Mercari Group in June 2017.

Executive Director

Yuta Sato

Yuta Sato completed the doctoral program (Juris Doctor [Specialist] Degree) of Waseda University’s Graduate School of Law and went on to pass 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, Sato 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 Sato joined Merpay in June 2018, he worked on various topics including legal, public policy, and finance; starting in January of 2021, he has worked as Mercari’s Corporate Finance Team Manager. He assumed his current position in July 2021.

Vice President, COO Fintech

Takeshi Nagasawa

After graduating from Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Management and Commerce in 2007, Takeshi Nagasawa 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. He went on to join Merpay in April 2021. At Merpay, he was in charge of growth for the mobile payment service Merpay and later managed the growth of Mercari Group’s fintech area. He assumed his current position in April 2023.

Vice President, 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. Since July 2022, Shunya has worked as VP of Platform Engineering, a position which oversees internal platform development. He has been in his current position since April 2023.

Vice President of HR (Fintech)

Ryo Umezawa

After graduating from Hosei University, Ryo Umezawa worked at an apparel venture where he oversaw corporate operations, as well as a multinational online shopping startup where he was in charge of HR and general affairs. Following this, he joined Mercari in March 2018. He was initially involved in designing the HR systems for Mercari’s operations in both Japan and the US as part of HR planning, and in August 2018, he transferred to Merpay. As HR Director at Merpay, he oversaw a wide range of work to establish the company’s general HR functions like hiring, labor management, and HRBP. He went on to hold a dual role as HR Director for Mercoin. After serving as HR Director for Merlogi and Mercari Group’s other new business areas, he assumed his current position in July 2022. He now oversees HR for Mercari Group’s fintech operations.

CRO

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.