Company｜SmartDrive inc.

Mission

SmartDrive’s Mobility Data Platform connects diverse data sources and services to drive the future of mobility, which will bring new experiences, services, and other opportunities.

Company
Profile

Name	SmartDrive inc.
Established	Oct. 2013
CEO	Retsu Kitagawa
Capital	2.84 Billion Yen
Location	Hibiya Mitsui Tower 12F (Tokyo Midtown Hibiya), Yurakucho, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, 100-0006, Japan
Business	Hardware development and sales, software applications, telematics services, etc., and data collection and analysis

History

10/2013 SmartDrive established
8/2014 Pilot project started at "Kashiwanoha Smart City"
9/2014 Selected as the first project of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' "I-Challenge!"
(ICT Innovation Creation Challenge Program)
4/2015 Telematics business alliance with AXA General Insurance Co., Ltd.
8/2015 AXA Insurance Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd. invest in Series A new share allotment
12/2015 Won the Grand Prize at the 3rd CNET Japan Startup Award
1/2016 Started "MIRAI DRIVE PROJECT", a joint project with AXA General Insurance Co., Ltd.
9/2016 Release of DriveOps, a cloud-based fleet management service for businesses
2/2017 Series B new share allotment to Innovation of new shares to Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, SMBC Venture Capital Inc. and Mizuho Capital Co.
2/2017 Obtained ISMS certification
7/2017 Obtained P Mark privacy certification
3/2018 Started providing solutions for the logistics industry with Monoful Inc. Corporation and Aioi Nissay Dow Insurance Co., Ltd.
3/2018 Obtained ISO 9001 certification
4/2018 Released SmartDrive Cars, a monthly subscription connected car service
6/2018 Selected as a project for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Industrial Data Sharing Promotion Project Subsidy Fund". Started a joint project with Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd.'s high-precision 3D map data for Dynamic Map Infrastructure Co.
6/2018 Series C new share allotment to Monoful and Goldman Sachs as new investors
6/2018 Started "Smart Drive Lab" for research and development of AI, blockchain and other technologies
6/2018 Set up an office in Shenzhen, China
7/2018 "DriveOps", cloud-based fleet management service renamed "SmartDrive Fleet", adding features for the logistics industry
11/2019 Mobility Transformation conference held at Toranomon Hills with 45 speakers, 1,500 guests, and 24 sponsors, including Jaguar Land Rover Japan, AXA, KDDI, and Mitsui Fudosan
11/2019 Established offices in Tokai (Nagoya), Thailand and Malaysia to expand business.
4/2020 Mobility Transformation conference held online with over 7,000 viewers

Management
team

CEO Retsu Kitagawa

While studying at Keio University, Retsu was involved in several new business development projects at a start-up company in Japan. Retsu then studied engineering in the US for a year before researching mobility data analytics at the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo. Inspired by the possibility of mobility data, electric vehicles, and autonomous driving technology’s potential to fundamentally change the way people and things move around the world, Retsu founded SmartDrive.

Message

““Advancing The Evolution Of Mobility” This is the vision that SmartDrive has been advocating since its inception.

Up to this point, the movement of people and things has evolved enormously due to changes in transportation technology and development. In the coming decades, due to the spread of autonomous driving technologies, there is widespread anticipation of a shift in mobility equal to all the cumulative changes that have occurred before this point.

This change will not be brought about by any one company. The assets, capabilites, and technologies of numerous businesses and organizations will be combined, amplifying and supporting the activities of each other. With this in mind, SmartDrive is moving toward a future of openness and cooperation that will make it possible to realize the evolution of mobility.

Part of the idea is in the name of our company and it serves to remind us that we aim to positively impact society, helping everyone to drive or otherwise move as smartly as possible. “

Hiroki
Motogaito Executive Board Member

Studied Statistical Analysis at the Graduate School of Engineering Science, the University of Osaka. PhD (Engineering) in the area of statistical machine learning. After working as a certified public accountant at KPMG AZSA LLC, Hiroki joined GREE, Inc. where he worked on various data analysis tasks. He joined SmartDrive in January 2015, and after serving as an executive officer, he assumed his current position in December 2018. Currently, he is in charge of technology development and business development, focusing on the data platform business.

Kanta
Takahashi Executive Board Member, Chief Financial Officer

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Keio University, Kanta worked at KPMG AZSA LLC, where he was involved in statutory auditing, IPO support, and financial due diligence work. He then served as Board Member, CFO of COCON Inc., overseeing the Corporate Department, financing and mergers and acquisitions. He joined SmartDrive in 2017 and currently oversees accounting, finance and other administrative operations as CFO.

Gunnar
Lockwood Chief Design Officer

Gunnar joined SmartDrive in 2014 as the first employee after working as a designer for more than 10 years in graphic, print, web and hardware design, UI/UX, and branding. Responsible for branding, he manages the quality of all designs and UI/UX of SmartDrive.

Yuichiro
Nagai Executive Officer, Human Resources

M.A. in Counseling, the University of Central Florida. Graduated from Tsukuba University with an MBA-IB. After working as a consultant in the human resources industry, Yuichiro joined Google in 2010, where he spent five years in engineering recruiting in the Asia Pacific region. He joined SmartDrive in February 2015 and is responsible for all aspects of human resources.

Toshio
Sugaya Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer

After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Economics, Toshio began his career at JP Morgan, where he worked in the investment banking division on mergers and acquisitions and financing deals. After working at Paul Hastings, law firm based in Los Angeles, Lazard, and Barclays, mainly focusing on cross-border advisory work, he joined SmartDrive in 2019, where he is responsible for forming the company's strategies and driving strategic alliances.

Takemi
Hironaka Executive Officer, Chief Revenue Officer

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Meiji Gakuin University, Takemi began his career at a Japanese consulting firm, where he led the establishment of the Hokkaido office as the branch manager. After working for Salesforce.com and Marketo where he led the expansion of the Japan business as the head of the Commercial revenue team, he joined SmartDrive in 2019, where he oversees the Revenue Team from marketing to customer success and business development and is responsible for maximizing revenue.

Yusuke
Unno Executive Officer, Product Development

After working as an engineer and project manager at a software house, Yusuke joined GREE, Inc. in 2006, where he was in charge of improving operations of SNS, avatar services, and various contents media (news, Q&A, fortune telling, etc.), and launching social game products. He then joined nextbeat Co., Ltd. in 2015 where he promoted the internalization of product development functions and the launch and training of offshore development. In 2019, he joined SmartDrive and is in charge of product development.

Yuji
Taguchi Product Marketing Manager

After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University with a bachelor's degree in International Political Science and Economics, Yuji worked for a Japanese system integrator and Recruit Co., Ltd. He then joined GREE, Inc. where he was engaged in business development and marketing and served as General Manager of the Business Promotion Office and General Manager of Marketing at Pokelabo, Inc., a group company. After working at WeahtlNavi Inc., a fintech startup, as an executive officer in charge of the Alliance Business, he joined SmartDrive in 2019, where he is in charge of new business development and product marketing.

Yasutaka
Fukuda Outside Director

After graduating from Waseda University, Yasutaka joined Oracle Corporation Japan as a sales consultant and was transferred to Oracle's headquarters in the US in 2001. In 2004, he joined Salesforce.com in the U.S and was immediately transferred to its subsidiary in Japan, where he led the company's growth in the Japan market for the next nine years. After serving as Senior Vice President and Senior Managing Executive Officer, he joined Marketo Japan in 2014 as President, and in October 2017 was appointed President of Asia Pacific and Japan. With the acquisition of Marketo by Adobe Systems, he was appointed Senior Managing Executive Officer in charge of the Marketo Business of Adobe Systems in March 2019. He was appointed Partner of Japan Cloud Computing and President of JCC Consulting in January 2020.

Hiroshi
Terada Outside Director

After completing graduate school at the University of Tokyo, Hiroshi joined Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, where he was engaged in market research and business strategy planning support mainly for major system integrators and electronics manufacturers. From 2013, he worked at overseas locations (Singapore and the UK). In 2015, he joined INCJ, Ltd. (formerly Innovation Network Corporation of Japan), where he was in charge of investment and value-up support for venture companies in the AI, Big Data, and robotics fields. He serves as an outside director of Land Data Bank, Ltd. and an auditor of iQPS Inc.

Tomohiro
Nakajima Corporate Auditor

After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in economics, Tomohiro joined the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1998, where he was involved in policy planning for promoting the development of next-generation telecommunications infrastructure and internationalizing the technical certification of telecommunications devices. After studying at Columbia University in the U.S., he worked at a major auditing firm auditing domestic and overseas listed IT companies, and at a consulting firm on investment projects to support regional development and urban development in Indonesia. He serves as Corporate Auditor of SmartDrive since December 2018 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Takashi
Takekawa Corporate Auditor

Takashi worked at Nomura Securities in Japan and overseas. He established Asahi Net International, Inc. in the U.S. in 2011, and promoted the globalization of education support system businesses as its president. Since 2014, he has been involved in Tohoku's recovery efforts and launched the "Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival". He leads INTILAQ, an entrepreneur support and training program in the Tohoku region at IMPACT Japan. He founded "zero to one" in 2016 to develop and provide educational materials for advanced IT human resource development. He graduated from International Christian University and completed obtained a master of business administration from Harvard Business School in 2006.

Eriko
Ishii Outside Corporate Auditor

After graduating from Keio University, Faculty of Law, Eriko worked at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, where she was involved in domestic and international M&A and capital markets transactions. After being transferred to the Corporate Disclosure Division of the Financial Services Agency, she studied at Columbia University in the U.S., and received training in London, before joining Shin Saiwai Law Office as a Partner in 2016 where she advises domestic and international clients on M&A transactions and supports startup companies. In December 2018, she was appointed as an external corporate auditor of SmartDrive. She is admitted to practice law in Japan and New York State.