STAR UP

Team

Our Team

STARUP team group photo
All MembersSTARUP / 2026
11

members

Yuto Ogata

CEO

Yuto Ogata

Founded an education media company in his first year at Kyoto University. He then worked in sales consulting for manufacturing, as a PM in a trading company's new business division, and in customer success at a staffing company.

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Takehiro Kikkawa

Director, CPO/CSO

Takehiro Kikkawa

Worked on non-financial disclosure and back-office improvement at a data science venture. Also led projects such as creating university environmental reports and disclosing GHG emissions for restaurants.

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Yuki Tanaka

Executive Officer / CTO

Yuki Tanaka

After working as a PM and lead engineer at several companies including major IT firms, he handled dozens of projects as a freelance engineer. He has launched new businesses using generative AI, improved operations, and built systems.

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Daigo Fujii

Executive Officer, Head of Corporate

Daigo Fujii

Graduate of Kyoto University's Faculty of Economics. After doing business development at a Kyoto startup, he handled sourcing and investment/partnership review in the M&A and alliance division of a listed company. At STARUP he leads accounting and finance, including two rounds of bank financing.

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Naoki Kadokura

Head of AI Solutions Division & PM Lead

Naoki Kadokura

Graduate of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Informatics. After founding an engineering club at Kyoto University, he joined STAR UP as an early member. He honed his data analysis skills as a data specialist at Recruit before returning to STAR UP. He now leads the AI Solutions Division, driving the real-world deployment of diverse field data from manufacturing to government.

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Haruki Kimura

Executive Officer / CEO of ARCHAIVE Business

Haruki Kimura

Graduate of Kyoto University's Faculty of Engineering. During his studies he experienced new business development and sales/CS in the staffing business. At STARUP he launched the SaaS business and now leads sales, including building the sales organization and devising sales strategy.

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Jiho Ryu

ARCHAIVE Development Lead

Jiho Ryu

Graduate of the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University. As ARCHAIVE development lead, he drives everything from product-wide requirements definition and task allocation to engineers, to highly complex implementation.

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Shota Yamashita

ARCHAIVE Product Manager

Shota Yamashita

Graduate of the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University. He switched from architecture to engineering and joined STARUP after training in India. His strength is the speed of completing both design and implementation single-handedly.

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Shunsuke Kimura

SEND AI Product Manager

Shunsuke Kimura

Graduate of the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University. Joined as a new graduate in April 2026. As a PM in the AI Solutions Division, he is the product owner of SEND AI (order-optimization AI for the retail industry).

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Namiki Chikusa

SEND AI Development Lead

Namiki Chikusa

Graduate of the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University. Joined as a new graduate in April 2026. He handles the backend design and AI implementation of SEND AI (order-optimization AI for the retail industry).

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Sota Nagai

ARCHAIVE Sales

Sota Nagai

Graduate of Kokugakuin University. Joined STAR UP after reconnecting with Haruki Kimura, and handles sales for ARCHAIVE (an AI platform for manufacturing). Persistently visiting sites mainly across the Kansai region, he is expanding the Kanto market from the Tokyo office scheduled to open in fiscal 2026. His nickname is "Kevin."

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Advisor

1

advisors

Advisors

Tokutaro Nakai

Advisor

Tokutaro Nakai

Tokutaro Nakai

After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law in 1985, he joined the Ministry of Finance. He served in roles including Director of the Public Relations Office, Professor at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo, and Budget Examiner in the Budget Bureau, before moving to the Ministry of the Environment in 2011. There he held posts such as Director of the General Affairs Division of the Environmental Policy Bureau, Director of the Accounting and Personnel Divisions of the Minister's Secretariat, Director-General of the Waste Management and Recycling Department, and Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs, and was appointed Administrative Vice-Minister of the Environment in July 2020. After retiring in July 2022, he has served as an advisor to Nippon Steel, Representative Director of the Millennium Future Council Foundation, and Specially Appointed Professor at Japan University of Economics. He brings deep expertise in environmental policy, decarbonization, the Regional Circular and Ecological Sphere, and social implementation across industry and government. At STARUP, he supports DX in the industrial and public sectors leveraging AI and data infrastructure, GHG emissions visualization, sustainability initiatives including Scope 3, and business development aimed at solving regional and social challenges.

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