Marunouchi Innovation Partners

About Us

About Us

Team

Representative Director

CEO & CIO / Investment Committee Member
Ichiro Miyoshi

Investment Team

Managing Director
Hideya Muraoka
Managing Director
Etsuko Kobayashi
Managing Director
Nagi Suzuki
Director
Tomoaki Nakagawa
Vice President
Yusuke Matsui
Vice President
Hiroyuki Taniguchi
Vice President
Ethan Chung
Associate
Satoshi Yamada
Associate
Yosuke Horio
Associate
Ryoh Ohashi

Operation Team

Head of Operations
Takeshi Saito
Senior Manager
Yoshihide Yamauchi
Manager
Yuka Wada
Associate
Koji Mizuno

External Advisors

Advisor
Nicola De Blasio
Advisor
Barbara Burger
Advisor
Kenneth B. Medlock III
About Us
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CEO & CIO / Investment Committee Member

Ichiro Miyoshi is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Marunouchi Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. Mr. Miyoshi has more than 20 years of experience in private equity and asset management industry.
He started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation and worked in Foreign Exchange Dept., where he was in charge of trade finance and risk management of foreign exchange trading over 7 years. In 2001, he started his career in private equity at Merchant Banking Dept., where he was engaged in private equity and venture capital investment activities in Japan, the US, and Europe. He also provided M&A consulting services to various business divisions within Mitsubishi. Since 2007, Mr. Miyoshi worked for a subsidiary company in New York, where he was engaged in various alternative investments including private equity, infrastructure and real estate for 6 years. In 2015, he became the President & CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation Asset Management Ltd. (current Mitsubishi UFJ Alternative Investments Co, Ltd.) He led Mitsubishi’s asset management business in Japan and expanded the investor relationship network in alternative asset class during his 4 years at Mitsubishi Corporation Asset Management Ltd. Since 2019, he was responsible for Mitsubishi’s private equity and venture capital businesses which comprised of a wide array of strategies and regions including buyout in Japan, growth capital in ASEAN, and buyout and venture capital in the US. Prior to joining Marunouchi Innovation Partners Co., Ltd., he took his office as Senior Vice President of Urban Development Group at Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) in New York, and supervised its real estate development/management, private equity business, and business development activities in North America.
Mr. Miyoshi holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University, Japan and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD, France.

Managing Director

Hideya Muraoka is a Managing Director of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in cross-border M&A, business development, and structure finance in energy and infrastructure space. He started his career at Japan Bank for International Cooperation, where he was engaged in structured finance transactions in worldwide infrastructure and energy projects. In 2011, he joined Energy Business Group of Mitsubishi Corporation where he was involved in cross-boarder M&A transactions in energy sector. Since 2016, he worked as a Vice President of a subsidiary company based in Houston, Texas, where he led Mitsubishi’s new business development in energy sector including initiating startup investment in North America. In 2020, he was appointed as Assistant General Manager of Indonesia Natural Gas Dept., where Mitsubishi was the leading investor of the project. He was also the core member of the accelerator program run by Natural Gas Group of Mitsubishi together with NYK Line.
Mr. Muraoka holds a B.A. in Economics from Hitotsubashi University, Japan and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Managing Director

Etsuko Kobayashi is a Managing Director of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. She has over 15 years of experience in both front and back-office aspects of alternative investment space including private equity and venture capital. She started her career at Mitsubishi Corporation in Alternative Investment Unit where she assisted the investment, divestment, and monitoring of Mitsubishi’s hedge fund portfolio. Since 2009, she was engaged in management and monitoring of Mitsubishi’s private equity and venture capital portfolio. In 2013, she was seconded to One Rock Capital Partners LLC, a US-focused buyout firm based in New York, where she was engaged in analysis and due diligence process of investment opportunities. Upon her return, she supported the operations of Mitsubishi’s private equity and other asset management platforms by facilitating communication between Mitsubishi’s business divisions and portfolio/target companies to utilize Mitsubishi’s resources for potential value creation. In 2020, she was appointed as CFO of AIGF Advisors Pte. Ltd., an ASEAN small/mid-cap focused private equity firm based in Singapore, and oversaw its corporate administration and fund administration. Prior to joining Marunouchi Innovation Partners, she was engaged in managing the corporate venture capital investment program of Mitsubishi.
Ms. Kobayashi holds a B.A. in Policy Management from Keio University, Japan.

Managing Director

Nagi Suzuki is a Managing Director of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. Ms. Suzuki started her career at Mitsubishi Corporation in Water Business Dept., where she worked in project development and equity investments. Upon acquiring shares of South Staffordshire Plc in 2016, a water service and engineering provider in the UK, she was seconded to the company for 3 years as the Regulation Manager, where she was involved in devising mid-term business plans and water utility bill forecasts. Since 2020, she worked at Investment Management Dept. within the Corporate Division of Mitsubishi, where she provided assessments for investments and divestments proposed at Mitsubishi’s Investment Committee for over 2 years.
Ms. Suzuki holds a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.

Director

Tomoaki Nakagawa is a Director of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. He has over 13 years of experience in private equity, venture capital, strategic M&A, capital and business alliance, and alternative investment management business. Mr. Nakagawa started his career at Daiwa Securities SMBC in 2005 where he was seconded to its principal investment subsidiary and engaged in private equity investment in the Asian region. In 2017, he moved to Corporate Finance Dept. of Daiwa Securities and engaged in client coverage of power utility and trading companies. In 2018, he worked for Corporate Planning Dept. of Daiwa Securities Group, where he was responsible for equity investment-related business including strategic M&A, capital and business alliance, management of a venture capital fund as an investment committee member, and other alternative investment management businesses. He also served as non-executive director and corporate auditor of several affiliate companies within Daiwa Securities Group. In 2022, he joined a Japanese healthcare venture company where he was engaged in corporate management and international business development.
Mr. Nakagawa holds a B.A. in Political Science from Keio University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Vice President

Yusuke Matsui is a Vice President of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. Mr. Matsui joined NYK Line, where he started his career as a ship operator of dry bulk carriers in NYK’s Belgium branch. He then joined Fuel Group in the NYK’s headquarter, procuring fuel oil for NYK’s ships operated worldwide. Thereafter, he engaged in the launch of the world’s first LNG marine fuel supplying business, aiming to reduce CO₂ emission from the maritime industry. Most recently, he worked at the Finance Group of NYK, covering project financing for overseas energy, logistics and infrastructure projects, corporate finance and ESG finance. In 2021, he involved in the issuance of Japan’s first transition bond.
Mr. Matsui holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Vice President

Hiroyuki Taniguchi is a Vice President of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. Mr. Taniguchi started his career at MUFG Bank in 2013. During his 5-year tenure at Structured Finance Division in Tokyo, he closed over US$5bn project finance deals across various industries including Power and Oil & Gas sectors.Prior to joining MIP, he was stationed at New York branch of MUFG Bank where he was involved in structured trade finance for commodity traders as well as development finance utilizing development finance institutions for Latin American countries. With his competitive structuring skills, he successfully closed over US$2bn deals.
Mr. Taniguchi holds a B.A. in Engineering from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan and a Master of Energy Science from Kyoto University, Japan.
He is a U.S. Certified Public Accountant.

Vice President

Ethan Chung is a Vice President of MIP. He has over 13 years of experience in M&A, real asset investments, and business & tax advisory. Mr. Chung joined Pavilion Investment Group in 2018 where he focused on data center development projects, and buyout deals in financial services and education sector. Prior to Pavilion, he was an investment manager at Truston Asset Management where he focused on overseas infrastructure, real estate, renewable energy, and private equity buyout investment projects. Prior to Truston, he was a financial advisor at Ernst & Young, providing transaction and business advisory services.
Mr. Chung holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from the New York University Stern School of Business.
He is a CFA Charter holder and a U.S. Certified Public Accountant.

Associate

Satoshi Yamada is an Associate of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. He started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation in Merchant Banking Dept., where he was engaged in monitoring Mitsubishi’s proprietary investment portfolio of private equity funds and venture capital funds as well as assisting Mitsubishi’s investment and divestment activities within the space. He was also involved in the strategic alliance between Mitsubishi-sponsored funds and Mitsubishi’s business divisions to assist the funds’ post-investment value creation for portfolio companies where he facilitated communication to pursue business synergies and accelerate partnerships and business transactions.
Mr. Yamada holds a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, Medical Biology and Physiology from University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Research in Biomedical Research from Imperial College London.

Associate

Yosuke Horio is an Associate of MIP. He started his career at Oliver Wyman's Tokyo office in 2015 where he was engaged in projects across strategy, operations, risk and M&A mainly in the Financial Services, Healthcare and Retail sectors. He then moved to a travel tech startup in 2020 as the country head of a subsidiary and led business development engagements (including product development, sales, M&A/JV set up). Most recently he was at JAFCO providing support for startups in the Asia ex-Japan portfolio (China, India, Taiwan, Singapore).
Mr. Horio holds a BSc in Economics from University of Warwick.

Associate

Ryoh Ohashi is an Associate of MIP. He started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation in 2017 in Transportation Infrastructure Dept., where he was engaged in the development of airport concession projects in Asia. After acquiring operating rights of seven airports in Hokkaido, a northern island of Japan, he was seconded to the operator, Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd., for approximately two years starting in 2019, where he was responsible for establishing a sales department and negotiating with airlines. Since 2021, he was in charge of PE fund and infrastructure fund management at Merchant Banking Dept. of Mitsubishi. Prior to joining MIP, he was seconded to Marunouchi Infrastructure Inc., an infrastructure fund management company based in Tokyo, where he was involved in investment and management of renewable energy, transportation, and data infrastructure assets.
Mr. Ohashi holds a B.A. in Political Science from Keio University, Japan.

Head of Operations

Takeshi Saito is the Head of Operations of Marunouchi Innovation Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in finance and other businesses both in front and back-office aspects. Mr. Saito started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation as a risk manager of its hedge fund investment business. Since then, he has been engaged in various financial businesses within Mitsubishi ranging from financial derivatives trading to acquisition of renewable energy-based power plants. He has also worked at Mitsubishi’s Investment Management Dept. where he supported its Investment Committee in analyzing pipeline investments across various industry sectors. Prior to joining Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Mr. Saito was the Head of Finance & Administration at MITBANA Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based real estate developer and a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Surbana Jurong, where he built the foundation of and oversaw the overall corporate administration.
Mr. Saito holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University.
He is a Certified Member Analyst of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan.

Senior Manager

Yoshihide Yamauchi is a Senior Manager of MIP. He has over 10 years of experience in private equity, capital and business alliance, and alternative investment management business. Mr. Yamauchi started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation in 2012 at Merchant Banking Unit where he was involved in formation, investment and monitoring of various private equity funds. In 2017, he was seconded to Marunouchi Capital, a Japan-focused buyout firm based in Tokyo and a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, where he was engaged in deal sourcing, analysis, and value-up initiatives of various buyout opportunities. While at Marunouchi Capital, he served as a director of Graniph Inc., an apparel company based in Tokyo and one of the portfolio companies of Marunouchi Capital, where he managed employees and collaborated with numerous stakeholders such as shareholders, business partners, and financial institutions, to drive company operations. From 2021, he worked at Investment Management Dept. within the Corporate Division of Mitsubishi, where he supported its Investment Committee in analyzing pipeline investments across various industry sectors.
Mr. Yamauchi holds a B.A. in Law from The University of Tokyo, Japan.

Head of Operations

Yuka Wada is a Manager of MIP. Ms. Wada started her career at A.T. Kearney in 2002 as a consultant. She then moved to AlixPartners and PwC Advisory where she was involved in business strategy planning and growth strategy development which leverages M&A opportunities. Prior to joining MIP, she worked at SaaS startup companies as a corporate department manager in charge of finance & accounting, legal, and corporate planning.
Ms. Wada holds a B.A. in Integrated Human Studies from Kyoto University, Japan.
She is a U.S. Certified Public Accountant.

Associate

Koji Mizuno is an Associate of MIP. Mr. Mizuno started his career at Shinkin Central Bank in 2013 where he was engaged in corporate finance to Trading/Automobile/Retailing companies and Government related organizations. After joining Financial Reporting Advisory Div. of PricewaterhouseCoopers Japan LLC in 2019, he was involved in various accounting related projects including cross-border PMI consultation for a Japanese mega-bank and IFRS conversion advisory to a Japanese trust bank.
Mr. Mizuno holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Yokohama National University.
He is a U.S. Certified Public Accountant.

Advisor

Dr. Nicola De Blasio is a Senior Fellow leading Belfer Center research on energy technology innovation and the transition to a low-carbon economy. With more than 25 years of global experience in the energy sector, Dr. De Blasio is an expert in navigating the challenges of strategic development and technology innovation toward sustainable commercial success, at scale. This coupled with his insight on the impact of an institution’s development and innovation activities on other facets of business strategy, such as environmental, social, operational, geopolitical, and governmental factors. Dr. De Blasio is as an independent board member and adviser to various companies, startups and non-profit organizations. He has worked across business, academia, government, and civil society to develop and implement new business opportunities and establish connections supporting research, education, and convening opportunities. Dr. De Blasio began his career with Snamprogetti (an Italy-based engineering company then under Eni Group that specialized in the design and execution of large-scale offshore and onshore projects for the oil and gas industry) as a process engineer before becoming an economic feasibility study specialist. He spent 17 years at Eni, one of the world’s leading energy companies headquarterd in Italy, most recently as Vice President and Head of R&D International Development, where he was also responsible for the startup group. He engineered the strategic alliances between Eni and MIT - which also led to the creation of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center in 2010 – Stanford, Tsinghua, and other word-leading universities. He was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), and a member of the MITEI Advisory Board, its Executive Committee (2005-2015) and the Eni Award Committee. Before joining Harvard, Dr. De Blasio was Senior Research Scholar in the faculty of SIPA at Columbia University and Program Director of Technology and Innovation at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where he was also Director of Strategic Partnerships.
Dr. De Blasio holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan University with a thesis in industrial catalysis. He specialized at St. Andrews University, Scotland and then at Eni Corporate University, where he focused on energy economics. He co-authored the book “Value of Innovation - Metrics for Economic Evaluation of Innovative Technologies in the Oil Industry”, and has extensively published and lectured on energy, innovation, project evaluation and catalysis.
Areas of Expertise:Energy Hydrogen, Renewable energy, Energy Innovation policy, Environment & Climate Change, Green chemistry and Science & Technology

Advisor

Dr. Barbara J. Burger currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Lazard (a global financial advisory and asset management firm), the Heliogen Board of Directors (a Pasadena/California-based solar thermal technology company), Emerald Technology Ventures Advisory Council (a Zurich/Switzerland-based VC firm that invests in sustainable industrial innovations), Greentown Labs Board of Directors (a Boston/Massachusetts-based climate tech incubation hub), and Advisor to Energy Impact Partners (a global investment firm that focuses on energy transition), Syzygy Plasmonics (a Houston/Texas-based developer of all-electric chemical reactors that use light instead of combustion) and Epicore Biosystems (a Cambridge/Massachusetts-based developer of sweat microfluidic sensing platform).
Dr. Burger has over three decades of experience working in the oil & gas sector and energy innovation-focused investments. She began her career at Chevron Corporation as a research chemist and held numerous management positions with increasing responsibility across International Marketing, Chemicals, Technology Marketing, and Lubricants. From 2013 to 2022, she served as the President of Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) where she oversaw investments to startups with technologies that have the potential to enhance Chevron’s core business in the areas of operations, digitalization and lower-carbon solutions. She ended her time at Chevron group in 2022 as the Vice President, Innovation and President of CTV.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Burger has held a wide range of civic and industry board and advisory positions including the MIT Energy Initiative, Houston Symphony Society, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Climate Investment LLP (an investment arm of Oil and Gas Climate Initiative with 12 of the largest oil and gas companies worldwide to lead the industry’s response to climate change), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Burger serves on the Board of Trustees at the University of Rochester and chairs the River Campus Libraries National Council. She established the Barbara J. Burger Endowed Scholarship in the Sciences and founded the Barbara J. Burger iZone, where students generate, refine and communicate ideas for social, cultural, community and economic impact. At California Institute of Technology, Dr. Burger supports graduate women in chemistry who aim to contribute through careers beyond academia and serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the Resnick Sustainability Institute.
Dr. Burger holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Rochester, a doctoral degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and an academic honor MBA in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.
Areas of Expertise: Energy Transition Technologies - from innovation to scale, Venture Investment, Portfolio Company and Board Governance, Global Supply Chain & Operations

Advisor

Dr. Kenneth B. Medlock III is James A. Baker III and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, and Senior Director of Center for Energy Studies at Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. He also currently serves as the Director of Masters of Energy Economics, Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at Department of Economics, and Adjunct Professor at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at Rice University.
Dr. Medlock is actively engaged in research and testimonies, briefings, workshops, conferences, and other meetings with industry, government, NGOs, academia, and international ministerial groups on matters related to energy sector evolution and market design, policy and regulatory oversight, and hurdles for technology adoption. Dr. Medlock has decades of academic experience in the field of energy economics and has published numerous scholarly articles in his primary areas of interest which include natural gas markets, electricity markets, energy commodity price relationships, transportation, national oil company behavior, economic development and energy demand, energy use and the environment, and various energy transitions topics ranging from engineered and nature-based carbon capture to hydrogen to the economic drivers of technology adoption. He has testified multiple times on Capital Hill on U.S. energy exports and electricity market evolution, has spoken at OPEC, and is frequently asked to speak about global and domestic energy issues.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Medlock has received multiple awards, including Adelman-Frankel Award to Rice University's Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies by United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) in 2013, and Lifetime Achievement Award for the Advancement of the Education of Future Energy Leaders by Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Foundation in 2019, and has held fellow and advisory board positions in various academic institutions and industry organizations, including Distinguished Fellow at Institute Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ). Dr. Medlock holds a doctoral degree in economics from Rice University.
Areas of Expertise: Energy and environmental economics and policy

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