Junji Takaoka (Kevin) is Managing Director at UTokyo IPC, where he leads initiatives to create startups from the ground up. His responsibilities span a wide range of areas including the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program, commercialization of academic technology seeds, and building bridges between university research and global VCs, incubators, and accelerators.
Kevin began his entrepreneurial journey in Shanghai immediately after graduating from university in 2005. He returned to Japan in 2007 to join the strategic consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (now Strategy&). In 2009, he joined the President’s Office at Alibaba Japan, where he played a key role in launching new ventures during Alibaba’s rapid ascent to becoming a global IT powerhouse.
In 2016, Kevin served as an EIR at Draper Nexus (now DNX USA), a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. The following year, he founded UsideU, a company specializing in remote customer engagement and AI. He successfully exited the business through a sale in 2020.
He currently serves as a board member at Komehyo Co., Ltd.
Kevin holds a degree from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and a Master’s in Design Innovation from Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Outside of work, Kevin is an avid jazz enthusiast and considers playing the double bass a lifelong passion.