About
Aki Ohashi is a venture investor and startup ecosystem contributor serving as Vice President at Evolution Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm specializing in strategic investments in, and collaborations with, startups for Japanese corporations. Before Evolution, he spent 11 years as Director of Business Development for Asia Pacific at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC, a Xerox company), managing relationships with major Japanese corporations. Earlier, he was a Partner in the venture capital investment division of ngi group (formerly Netage) in Japan, where he led investments in and served on the boards of internet startups, and COO of Tilefile, a Netage-funded startup. Aki brings a bilingual investor and business-development perspective on corporate venture investing, startup-corporate collaboration, cross-border deals between Japan and Silicon Valley, and technology partnerships. The work provides direct exposure to how Japanese corporations evaluate startups as investment targets and innovation partners. Aki is particularly relevant to conversations around working with Japanese corporate investors, strategic fundraising, startup-corporate partnerships, and entering Japan and Asia Pacific markets.