About
Ikuo Hiraishi is a serial entrepreneur, investor and educator serving as Co-founder at GoGlobal Catalyst, a company registered in January 2025 with the aim of globalizing the Japanese startup ecosystem. He is also a Professor in the entrepreneurship department at Musashino University. He co-founded his first company in 1991 and went on to co-found WebCrew, which went public in 2004, and Interscope, which was sold to Yahoo! Japan in 2007. He later co-founded the seed-stage venture firm SunBridge Global Ventures, launched the Innovation Weekend pitch event, founded DreamVision, and established Infarm Japan after investing in Infarm as an angel. Ikuo brings a founder-investor perspective on starting companies in Japan, seed-stage investing, exits, and taking startups across borders. The mix of building, funding and teaching gives him direct exposure to how early-stage teams form, raise capital and expand between Japan and overseas markets. Ikuo is particularly relevant to conversations around global expansion for Japanese startups, market entry into Japan, seed fundraising, and entrepreneurship education.