From Venture Capital and Startups to Supporting Private Company IPOs｜Track Record Vol. 1｜Nomura Securities

I did a lot of different part-time jobs as a student, and one of them was at a venture capital firm in my second year of university. It was a newly-launched fund, and the job posting at school said something like “A part-time job that lets you invest.” It sounded a little suspicious, but interesting at the same time.

It was really interesting. Even though I only worked there part-time, I got to meet people from various startups, hear their stories, and even take part in investment decisions. We talked about how the companies might grow, and even though I was helping to make investment decisions, I honestly didn’t fully understand their businesses. I wanted to understand the business side better, so after about a year I left the fund and joined an AI startup. I worked in the business administration team directly under the CFO and helped with IPO preparation and fundraising. I was studying in Kyoto at the time, but I took a leap of faith and moved to Tokyo where the company was located.

Yes. But I soon realized how little I knew. I had gone to the startup to learn, so that was natural, but when you’re trying to raise money from investors for an IPO, you need to prepare the company to meet a certain standard. I didn’t understand what a company pursuing an IPO needed to be. I thought that as a young person I could just work hard and figure it out, but I realized that I needed more knowledge. So I went back to university, kept working part-time at the same fund, and started studying for the Certified Public Accountant qualification. While at university, I passed the US CPA exam, and after I started working, I passed the Japanese CPA exam as well.

It made me realize how exciting startups are. I didn’t know much about venture capital or startups at the time, but I was able to see up close the dreams, passion, and real challenges of the people working there.

Actually, there was one more company before Nomura. It was SmartNews, and I joined right after graduating. At the time, I felt that my experience was still not enough, and I wanted to deepen my knowledge of corporate management so I could deliver results. I had studied quite a lot on my own, and I wanted to get back into the startup world. So I looked for a company where I could do corporate work at a late-stage startup— something larger, with a more established organizational structure. I stayed at SmartNews for two and a half years.

Looking back now, SmartNews was an amazing company. I still think there aren’t many places like it. I got to work in accounting, financial planning, and I even helped launch new businesses within a subsidiary. It was really interesting. 

But over those two and a half years, I started to feel like I wanted to support different companies. I realized that I really like being in a position to cheer on startups. That’s why I joined Nomura. It was one of the companies I had talked about with friends and heard good things about from others.

Nomura made it clear that it was going to focus on startups and really go all in on IPOs. Around 2023, I heard that many promising private companies were waiting for the right time to go public, and that Nomura was building a team focused on large IPOs because the market trend would eventually shift. I thought it was a great time to jump in. I also wanted to work closely with startups.

I’m in a team of about 20 people. We moved to a new structure in the fall of 2025, and the department I’m in covers private companies. I’m in the Growth Coverage Group, which supports IPOs for larger companies. 

The team really gives us a lot of room to work independently. As long as we stay committed to results, we’re trusted to take initiative. They also listen to younger employees’ ideas and let us pursue what we want to do.

We work with many startups, so we can see a broad range of industry trends. There are many ways to approach things, and for someone like me who wanted to look at many different companies, it’s the perfect environment. When I find a company I’m interested in, I contact them myself and go meet them.

The main focus is IPO support, and it’s really about working with clients over several years. First, our goal is to be selected as the lead underwriter for the IPO. After that, we provide consulting on building the management systems needed for a listed company, and we help create the equity story that shows investors the company’s appeal. We also coordinate the entire project. For large deals, dozens of people across different departments may be involved, so we help bring everyone together.

What I pay most attention to every day is the quality we deliver to our clients. And of course, I want to see each project through to the end. When the first IPO project I worked on as a junior came to a close, the client told us they were glad they worked with our team. That felt amazing.

As a banker who understands startup people well, I first want to become someone who can really energize startups. In the medium to long-term, I want to help more people in the startup industry understand finance. More people are moving from finance into startups as CFOs and other similar roles, but I feel that IPO practices are often misunderstood. For example, things like how valuations are set or how M&A is perceived. I think there’s still a gap in understanding between the capital markets and private companies, and I want to help bridge it.