Pitch Contest
Tech Osaka Award 2025

Christopher is the founder of Simplex Heritage Co., Ltd., Japan’s first multi-family office equipped with merchant banking functions.
He previously served as COO of the venture capital firm BEENEXT, and engaged in investment roles at GCM Grosvenor and J.P. Morgan Securities Japan.
He was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, serves as an Associate Leader at the U.S.-Japan Council, and is also a lecturer at Stanford University.
Christopher holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Oxford.

Brian is the COO of Encognize GK, where he oversees market expansion initiatives which support startups, scale-ups, and SMBs in expanding internationally by helping them identify new markets, design go-to-market strategies, and facilitate key business introductions.
He was the former APAC Head of Startup Programmes at Rainmaking, where he worked extensively with scaleups, industry-leading corporations and government agencies to drive new commercial opportunities and search for new sources of growth. Brian is inspired by visionary founders who build and create transformative businesses, and always seeks to deliver meaningful impact to their growth story.
His sector specialisation includes electric mobility, energy, TravelTech, construction and has a passion for SportsTech.

As Managing Director of Endeavor Catalyst, Jackie oversees fundraising and investor relations to support entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world.
She holds a BA in International Studies and a BS in Economics from the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).
Prior to joining Endeavor, she worked in strategic partnerships at Google and in investment banking at JPMorgan.
She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and four children.

Nobu is the founding managing partner at Wildcard Incubator, a Tokyo-based business accelerator dedicated to serving corporate and startup innovators across Japan, U.S. and EU primarily in agrifood. He also serves as mentor to Brinc’s climate tech program, and Japan Representative for Union Kitchen, a top tier U.S. food business accelerator.
Earlier in his career Nobu was also part of the co-founding team at a Tokyo-based food service business.
Nobu brings over a decade of experiences in investment banking and venture capital throughout Tokyo, New York, and Silicon Valley. He currently serves as editorial contributor to NewsPicks, one of Japan’s largest online business media where he covers the latest trends in agrifood innovations.