Team
C. Jeffrey Char, Founder & CEO
Jeffrey Char is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is Founder & CEO of SOGO Energy Pte. Ltd. and Co-Founder & Chairman of TRENDE Inc., an online renewable energy retailer accelerating the widespread adoption of solar power in Japan.
Prior to this he was Director of Corporate Venture Capital and a member of the Innovation Task Force at Tokyo Electric Power Company.
Jeff founded, built and sold several successful ventures including Sozon, an online marketing company sold to ValueCommerce, Solis, a domain registrar sold to GMO Internet, SSK Technology, an electronics component company sold to Suzuki Manufacturing, and Pario Software, a network security company sold to Lucent Technologies.
Prior to becoming an entrepreneur he was a corporate attorney in Silicon Valley and securities research analyst in Tokyo.
He is also a professor teaching about entrepreneurship at IE Business School in Spain and Doshisha Business School in Japan.
He studied economics at Sophia University in Tokyo and law at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School.
Tomoko Yoneyama, CFO
Tomoko is a certified tax accountant. She is responsible for managing back-office operations and monitoring the company's portfolio.
Tomoko previously worked as the statutory auditor at PhillipCapital in Japan and also managed administrative matters at the group's venture capital fund in Japan.
Prior to joining J-Seed, she also worked at Sasajima Tax Accounting Office.
Tomoko is a graduate of Rikkyo University in Tokyo.
Ryo Umezawa, Director
Ryo has been with J-Seed Ventures since 2005, participating in several partner companies where he frequently assisted in starting up the businesses, marketing and business development. He has experience in the mobile, online marketing, advertisement and platform businesses In 2008, he was in charge of starting up an iPhone ad network and produced an iPhone app at TrafficGate (Rakuten, Inc. group company). In 2010, started up his own venture, a mobile marketing company.
Since 2013, served as CEO for Hailo Japan, where Ryo lead the fund raising (first entity globally to independently raise money) and changed the business model of the company in heavily regulated industry. Most recently, Ryo was a Country Manger for HomeAway and Tinder Japan.
Having been involved in more than 30 companies until now, currently venture capitalist at East Ventures, angel investor in startups and serves as advisor to a Chinese mobile marketing company. He loves working with startups and in addition to being an avid blogger, he is a serious networker who is constantly meeting people and hooking them up with others.
Ryo was selected as a Leaders of Tomorrow at the 40th + 44th St. Gallen Symposium, also the first members of World Economic Forum, Global Shapers Community (GSC) in Tokyo hub, Japan.
Ryo studied International Business and Economics at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Toshihiro Oka, Director
Toshihiro Oka heads up the executive coaching business at J-Seed Ventures. In addition to executive coaching, he also offers leadership training, management training, and coaching training for corporate executives and government bureaucrats. His training sessions are extremely popular and boast a repeat rate of over 90%.
Major clients include listed companies like Electric, Housing, and Metals manufacturers and local governments such as Chuo Ward, Edogawa Ward, Akishima City, Saitama City, and Kawagoe City.
Toshi worked at Mitsukoshi for 25 years prior to joining J-Seed Ventures Inc. He has a strong interest in "the role that communication plays in the process of change" and learned about coaching from his experience of managing over 100 staff at Mitsukoshi.
Toshi majored in Economics at Keio University in Tokyo.