TECH PLANTER in Silicon Valley

Judges of 2019 Season

Dr. Yukihiro MaruFounder and Group CEO, Leave a Nest

profile

Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. is a leading Knowledge-based Platform company in Japan. The company is comprised of Mastersʼ and Doctorate degree holders. Leave a Nest works on extensive projects relating to Science and Technology. Dr. Maru has great experience in supporting startups. One of the startups he was supporting called Euglena Co., Ltd. was listed in the First section of Tokyo Stock exchange. He is expert in advising young entrepreneur in business development and venture spirit.
Mr. Toshiharu KurisuDirector, Glocalink Inc.

profile

Mr. Kurisu joined NTT Docomo in 2005. After engaged in planning and development of new services / functions in the Consumer Business Division, he transferred to NTT Docomo Ventures Silicon Valley. Succeeded in discovering multiple Silicon Valley startups and collaborating with the head office, he joined Glocalink, a Japanese startup incubator/angel investor company. as a director from 2018.
Mr. Sophian Abdul RahmanCEO and Co-Founder, Delightex Pte Ltd.

profile

Delightex Pte Ltd, a venture builder that seeks out innovative ways of capturing Delightful Moments. Before heading up Delightex, Mr. Sophian had served as the Director of Strategic Planning, Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions at SGX-listed Cordlife Group Limited, and CEO of its Bursa Malaysia-listed subsidiary Stemlife Berhad. He has also include a myriad number of roles in Singapore’s CapitaLand Group and Singapore Government’s Ministry of Trade & Industry agencies.
Mr. Akira ItoCEO, Aerodyne Japan

profile

With his unique career in a TV and Marketing industry for over 10 years, Akira has started his first startup specializing marketing consultation in Singapore. He has met Aerodyne through his job and immediately became a member of Aerodyne Group. Currently, he is a CEO of Aerodyne Japan and partnering with Japan Infra Waymark, NTT’s latest subsidiary focusing on drone solution provider.
Mr. Tomohisa MoriVice President, SOMPO Digital Lab

profile

Born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Spent childhood days in Indonesia, Tokyo, Chicago, and New York. Graduated Keio University in Tokyo with a BA in Law. Former member of Sepak Takraw Japan National Team. Spent 16 years working for a global Japanese insurance company, primarily serving in sales, marketing, and strategic planning roles. Spent 5 years working for a venture capital firm in San Francisco, as a partner and entrepreneur. Currently working for SOMPO Digital Lab as VP of operations, responsible for overall management of the company and new business development. U.S.CPA.
Ms. Aya Takeuchi Senior Researcher, New Market Development Team, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

profile

Ms. Takeuchi joined Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. Mitsui Chemicals has New Generation Business section and 3 main business segments, Mobility, Health Care and Food & Packaging. With her chemical background, she develops healthcare products and is in charge of technology scouting.
Dr. Devang ThakorFounder and Principal Consultant, Anioplex, LLC.

profile

Dr. Devang received PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA. Also have a career in Postdoctoral fellowships at Kyoto Devang Thakor is the founder and president of Anioplex, LLC, a global strategic, business, and technical advisory firm in Silicon Valley. For more than a decade, he has worked closely with startups, multinational corporations, venture capital firms, and universities to enable their development and deployment of groundbreaking "deep" technologies. He previously developed gene therapy, stem cell, and biomaterial technologies at Harvard Medical School, Kyoto University, and UCLA.
Mr. Nobu MoritaDirector of Innovation, NEC X

profile

NEC X is a startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, designed to fast-track startup companies selected from inside and outside NEC Corporation. NEC X creates the next breakout product and service innovations by blending the strengths of those corporate assets and startup’s disruptive ideas. Nobu Morita, a Director of Innovations at NEC X, has experience of business development and product management in US, Japan, and Asia, and is now supporting startup projects based in Silicon Valley.
Dr. Brian WilfleyChief Scientist, Triple Ring Technologies

profile

Dr. Wilfley has 35 years of experience leading development efforts for medical device and instrumentation companies. He has held senior scientific and managerial positions with Resonex, Inc., Park Scientific, Inc., Signature Bioscience, Inc., and NexRay, Inc. combining a broad theoretical background with a highly developed experimental sense, Brian has experience across the full range of challenges encountered in developing complex measurement-based products. His experience ranges from magnetism to x-rays, and includes a broad array of applications including biotech instrumentation, medical imaging, and optical inspection.
Dr. Joe WeberVice President, Strategic Markets, Triple Ring Technologies

profile

Joe has a PhD and MS in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a BS in chemistry from UC Santa Barbara, and attended an executive management program at INSEAD in France. He’s worked in a variety of roles in product and process development, technology management, and product and project management for large companies as well as startups in Silicon Valley. After his career at Raychem, he moved to SanDisk. Prior to joining Triple Ring, he was VP of Operations and Product Management for NovaTorque, a startup developing high efficiency electric motors.