# Top 50 Social Media Angel Investors in Asia in October 2023

## Kotaro Chiba
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 5
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Internet, Content, Software

Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.

## Kensuke Furukawa
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Content, Media and Entertainment, Software

Kensuke Furukawa was born in June 2, 1981. He graduated Waseda University majoring Political Science and Economics, and in 2000, he launched "Milkcafe", a student community, which has grown to a site with 10 million PV per month. In 2004, he became the CEO of Media Clip, which operates a rental bulletin board service "ShitarabaBBS". After that year, he had transfer "Shitaraba BBS" to Livedoor, and took charge of starting up the Consumer Generated Media sector. In 2006, he joined Recruit, and took charge of starting up a new business at Business development sector. In June of 2009, he left Recruit, and became the CEO of nanapi （formerly Rocket Start), which operates the How-to Site "nanapi".

## Masao Ito
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Content, Social Media, Information Technology

Masao Ito is a Founder & CEO at User Local.

## Tom Varkey
- Type: Angel
- Location: Westfield, New Jersey, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Media and Entertainment, E-Learning, Education

Tom is a veteran in financial markets and is Principal at Stonehill Capital. Prior to this he has held positions with Lazard Asset Management & Fidelity Investments focusing on emerging markets and corporate debt.
Tom is an MBA from Harvard Business School & has a MA in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University.

## Shubhrendu Koche
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Sports, eSports

Shubhrendu Koche

## Arthur Sabalionis
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Marketing, Advertising, Social Media

CEO at AJ Marketing | Influencer & Digital Marketing in AsiaAJ Marketing's mission is to help international companies to succeed in AsiaWHAT WE DO?
- Marketing Strategy
- Influencer Marketing
- Digital Marketing
- SEO
- Press Release
- Social Media Management
- Asia Celebrity Licensing
- Creative ProductionWHY US?
- CreativeAgency
- Top Influencers
- Global Team
- Local Resources
- Flexibility
- ExperienceTEAM LOCATIONS
- Singapore
- Japan
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Vietnam
- Taiwan

## Daisuke Kajiwara
- Type: Angel
- Location: Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series B
- Focus: Social Media, Content, CRM

Daisuke Kajiwara - Director, CTO and Director of CHECK Company @ Every Japan

## Kiyoshi Nishikawa
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: News, Social Media, Big Data

After working at KDD Corporation （Currently known as KDDI Corporation）, Kiyoshi Nishikawa next went to work at Arthur D. Little Inc. in the United States, where he became inspired to start his own company. After returning to Japan, he established a Japanese corporation of the world’s largest Internet company, America On Line, LLC. Later andbased on this experience and the relationships he developed, he founded the first Internet business incubator, NETAGE, Inc. After serving as the President and CEO of NETAGE Group, he later became and still serves as the Chairman of ngi group, inc. Kiyoshi was one of the main entrepreneurs responsible for proposing and realization of “Shibuya Bit Valley Concept” and is well known for his various speeches and writings. He is a graduate of the Department of Education at Tokyo University.

## Hidetoshi Takano
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Internet, Information Technology, Media and Entertainment

Joined Intelligence in 1999. Established Key Players Inc. in 2005. Consultation with more than 3,000 managers and career counseling for more than 10,000 individuals. In addition, we have invested in more than 55 outside directors, advisors and angels in Silicon Valley and Bangladesh in Japan. Over 100 lectures on careers, entrepreneurship andstartups.

## Shogo Kawada
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Media and Entertainment

Shogo Kawada is Co-founder and Adviser of DeNA, a global Internet company focused on a social games platform, social games, e-commerce and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs.

## Khailee Ng
- Type: Angel
- Location: Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Social Media, FinTech

Khailee Ng is Managing Partner at 500 Startups. Prior to that, he was the Co-founder and CEO of SAYS. He graduated from the University of Technology Sydney, the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University.

## Yu Akasaka
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Food and Beverage, Content, Internet

During Hosei University student, and intern at Hakuhodo C & D. After joining the Image-net, I do media monetization of EC site as a media planner. Then, new business, engaged in Alliance. Launched a crowdsourcing site "MILLION DESIGNS" of design in the individual, sold to Ransazu Corporation. Established the Eureka Co., Ltd., wasappointed Representative Director CEO.

## Christine Herron
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Personalization, Social Media

Christine Herron is an early-stage investor and diversity advocate, and co-leads the Intel Capital Diversity Fund while leading investments in early-stage companies. She is responsible for diversity investing across Intel Capital sectors, to support technology companies founded or run by women, underrepresented minorities, LGBTQ, or veterans. AtIntel, Christine's direct portfolio includes 500 Friends (ACQ: Merkle), betaworks, Brit Media, E la Carte, Funders Club, Goldbely, Jelli, Movable Ink, SmartZip, Storenvy (ACQ: OpenSky), Two Bit Circus, and Yummly (ACQ: WHR), and Intel Education Accelerator companies Comprendio, Immersed Games, Sutori, and Vidcode.Previously, Christine was an investor with seed stage venture fund First Round Capital, working with Better Finance, Double Verify, Get Satisfaction (ACQ: Sprinklr), Mint (ACQ: INTU), and Xobni (ACQ: YHOO). At Omidyar Network, she developed the Media and Web 2.0 practice strategy and led deals such as Common Sense Media and Socialtext.At Geocapital Partners, Christine focused on early Internet and network technology, leading Series A funding for AXON Networks (ACQ: 3COM), D-Vision (ACQ: ADSK), FocusVision (MBO), Netcom (IPO: NETC), and ViaGrafix (IPO: VIAX). Christine was also a founder or early employee at GiftWorks (ACQ: FrontStream), Mercury2, and NetObjects (IPO: NETC).Christine earned an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Columbia University. She is a founding advisor or mentor to 500 Startups, Bullpen Capital, and StartX, and serves on Alonzo King's LINES Ballet Board of Directors. She is active on @christine and a frequent speaker.

## Joon Kim
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Marketing, Advertising, Social Media

Joon Kim

## Jun Nishikawa
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Media and Entertainment, Mobile, Content

Jun Nishikawa - Co-founder, Executive Vice President, COO @ eureka, Inc.

## Rajesh Kamat
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series B
- Focus: Mobile, Digital Entertainment, Social Media

Listed as India’s hottest 40 under 40 Business Leaders by Economic Times and Spencer Stuart, Rajesh was previously the COO of Peter Chernin’s Asia focused private equity fund CA Media. Kamat had formerly launched Viacom18’s popular Hindi GEC network COLORS. With a mix of disruptive and differentiated programming, accompanied by aggressive marketingand distribution strategies Kamat catapulted COLORS to a number 3 position in its very first week and the number 1 position 9 months after launch, breaking Star Plus’ stranglehold on the position after nine years of unchallenged dominance. Under Rajesh’s leadership COLORS continued its successful run and grew into a vibrant brand reaching 140mm Households. It is the only GEC to have reached an operating break-even in 15 months. He served as COO of Viacom 18 Group and CEO of COLORS. Prior to COLORS, he launched Endemol India and served as its Managing Director. He has also served as SVP of Commercial & Business Planning at STAR India and held various marketing positions at Coca-Cola and MTV India. Kamat has also been named Impact Media Person of Year in 2009 and ‘Outstanding Entrepreneurs of Asia Pacific for 2010. Rajesh is a Bachelor of Engineering and also holds a Master's in Business Administration.Rajesh is also an active board member in over 10 companies and enjoys contributing to the angel investor ecosystem

## Komura Fujio
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Content, Ethereum, Marketing

Komura Fujio

## Koki Yabu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Content, Finance, Data Mining

Koki Yabu is Founder, President & CEO at Mobcast inc.

## Minhong Yu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Beijing, Beijing, China
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Education, Social Media, Mobile

Minhong Yu is the founder, Chairman and CEO of New Oriental, a company providing a comprehensive range of educational services. Yu is also the Vice Chairman of the Beijing Young Entrepreneurs Association and Vice Chairman of the Committee of Education of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League. Prior to founding New Oriental, Yu was anEnglish instructor at Peking University between 1985 and 1991. Yu received his Bachelor’s Degree in English from Peking University. Minhong Yu is the Director of Kidstone.

## Shuuichi Wada
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Reservations, Content, Social Media

Shuuichi Wada - CTO @ alu Japan

## Shunsuke Sasaki
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Content, SNS

Shunsuke Sasaki - Executive officer @ Jiraffe

## Ayataro Nakagawa
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Internet, Software, Information Technology

2011 At university, participated in the founding period as a director of Atcole Co., Ltd., and started the web service experience.2012 Founded Peroli Co., Ltd.,
which operates a curation platform for women "MERY" .2014 Founded Peroli
Co., Ltd. Sold to DeNA
2015 Jointly established Tokyo Founders Fund as an angel investor and startedinvesting in startups in Japan and overseas
2019 Appointed outside director of FIREBUG Co., Ltd.

## Samit Shetty
- Type: Angel
- Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Banking, FinTech, Big Data

Samit Shetty is the CEO of Navi FinServ.

## Hailong Xiang
- Type: Angel
- Location: Beijing, Beijing, China
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Apps, Parenting, Mobile Apps

Hailong Xiang joined Baidu in February 2005. He serves as Vice President in charge of Baidu’s commercial operations.Xiang served as Vice President of Baidu’s direct sales for its search marketing business, from April 2007 to July 2011.Mr. Xiang graduated from East China Normal University in 2000 with a degree in computer science.In 2001, Mr.Xiang established Shanghai Qilang, an Internet services firm, and served as its general manager.He joined Baidu with the acquisition of Shanghai Qilang in February 2005. Since joining, Mr. Xiang has led his team in completing the transformation of Baidu’s direct sales organization, effectively improving its structure, business processes, incentive systems, and marketing methods.He now oversees commercial product development, service management, and the Baidu Union.

## Marat Kichikov
- Type: Angel
- Location: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Education, Cryptocurrency

Marat is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and early stage investor.
He is the founder of several successful companies, including a consumer finance bank, few e-commerce companies and investment fund.
He serves on the board of his several portfolio companies (Bioloka, Wow Cube, F3 and RelesticaHolding), utilizing his knowledge and expertise in Blockchain industry which he joined to in 2013 as a partner in Bitfury Group.
In both as a fund and as an angel investor, Marat have invested in 30+ fin tech, e-commerce, blockchain technology, educational, healthcare and gaming companies, providing business expertise and financial & advisory support to founders.
Marat has a master's degree in finance & business management and a bachelor's degree in law.
In his free time, Marat likes surfing and skiing!

## Kazuhiro Ishikura
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Beauty, Content, Fashion

Kazuhiro Ishikura served as the head of the Akatsuki Business Management Department in 2013 and as a corporate auditor of Akatsuki in 2014, contributing to the company's listing on the TSE Mothers and TSE 1st sections. Appointed 3minute CFO in 2015, engaged in business start-up and organizational design, and succeeded in large-scale M & Adeal with Glee. After leaving the company, he became a WARC director in November 2018. Certified public accountant.

## Maneesh Arora
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Mobile, Internet, Mobile Apps

Maneesh Arora is CEO & co-founder of MightyText. He is a product builder who previously worked at Google and Zynga.

## Kenji Narushima
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Wellness, Health Care

Kenji Narushima is a Chief Strategy Officer / Chief Of Staff at CARRO

## Min-Liang Tan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1

Min-Liang Tan is the co-founder and CEO of Razer, where he directs and oversees the design and development of all Razer products. Mr. Tan was born in Singapore and resides in San Francisco. He graduated from the National University of Singapore Law School and was a lawyer before turning his passion for gaming into a 500-person global company.Min-Liang Tan was recently elected to the board of the PC Gaming Alliance. In March 2012 he contributed $10,000 USD to the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter project, admitting it was to atone for pirating Wasteland when he was a child. (Wasteland designer and Interplay CEO Brian Fargo replied that Mr. Tan has more than made up for his piracy of the game.)Min-Liang Tan has been named one of "The 25 Most Creative People in Tech" by the Business Insider together with Jonathan Ive and Gabe Newell. He has also been ranked one of the top 40 most powerful people in gaming by Kotaku in their "The Kotaku Power 40" list.

## Tsunezawa Kahoko
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Shopping, Apps, Travel

Tsunezawa Kahoko

## Fiona Pathiraja
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
- Focus: Health Care, Biotechnology, Wellness

Fiona is Managing Partner at Crista Galli Ventures, an early stage healthtech VC fund based in London and Copenhagen.

## Ron Zuckerman
- Type: Angel
- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: Internet, Video, Marketplace

Ron Zuckerman is the Co-Founder and Director of TV Time.

## Yoshihito Nishioka
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Sports, Content, Social Media

DescriptionYoshihito Nishioka is a Japanese tennis player.

## Oleg Shchegolev
- Type: Angel
- Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Focus: EdTech, Education, Social Media

Oleg Shchegolev is the founder and CEO at SEMrush.

## Kasit Rochanakorn
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Social Network, Content Delivery Network

Kasit Rochanakorn is the Legal Director at Atomico.

## Nick Gundry
- Type: Angel
- Location: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Retail, Coupons, Internet

Nick Gundry is the Partner Development, Asia + Australia at Microsoft. He attended National University of Singapore.

## Nishiki Takashi
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Content, Education, Social Media

Nishiki Takashi - Outside Director @ aucfan Co.,Ltd.

## Toshiro Wakimaru
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Task Management, Food and Beverage, SNS

Toshiro “Tosh” Wakimaru is the Chief Operating Officer of MedPeer, Inc. , Tokyo, Japan since May 2010. Medpeer is the “Medical Doctor Exclusive” SNS in Japan that has just successfully gone to the market in 2014.Prior to the current job, Tosh had been actively working for Price Waterhouse Consulting, Japan LLP (now IBM Japan, Ltd.) aftergraduating from the Boston University School of Management in 1996. While there he completed numerous projects in corporate strategy, operation improvement, and new business development focusing on the retail, service, and healthcare industries with a secondment to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

## Craig Hewett
- Type: Angel
- Location: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Retail, Coupons, Internet

Craig is the Co-Founder of Wego.com. He has more than 15 years experience in the online travel distribution industry, starting out with Holiday Inn Worldwide (now known as InterContinental Hotels Group) back in 1995 when the company launched the world's first online booking engine. He left Holiday Inn Worldwide in 1999 to join the start upteam for Priceline.com in Asia. He then joined the start up team for Zuji in Singapore where his tenure was cut short by the events of September 11th 2001.
Craig then rejoined InterContinental Hotels Group at the time when the company was ramping up its online technology investments across key Asia Pacific Markets. He developed the company's online strategy across the region with key local investments in China and Japan, successfully introducing local language capabilities into the group's global reservation system and marketing websites.

## Jeff Shouger
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Focus: EdTech, Education, Social Media

Finance executive (Certified Public Accountant) with broad experience managing and developing high performing teams.Extensive experience scaling finance departments, financial planning and forecasting, treasury, driving operations and process development for private venture back as well as multinational public companies including: Zynga, GileadSciences, Intuit, Sandisk, Monogram Biosciences, Novacea, Avanex, Cell Genesys, Nektar Therapeutics and Proteolix.Deal experience covering a variety of transactions, including acquisitions, initial public offerings (IPO), debt offerings, corporate partnerships and follow-on offerings.Broad understanding of public company issues and structuring pre-IPO for transition to public company.

## O.D. Kobo
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Internet, Broadcasting, Video

O.D. Kobo is an accomplished entrepreneur with over twenty-years of demonstrated history working in the financial services and technology sector.

## Hayama Takashi
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: SNS, Beauty, Medical

Hayama Takashi - Outside Director @ Eco Style

## Samarth Sharma
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Social Network, Content Delivery Network

Samarth Sharma is the Head of Growth, EMEA App Dev at Google.

## Cecilia Bratt
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Social Network, Content Delivery Network

Cecilia Bratt

## Takashi Shibayama
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Music, EBooks, Gaming

Takashi Shibayama

## Sameer Manchanda
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Social Media, Service Industry, Digital Entertainment

Sameer Manchanda

## Hikaru Kashida
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Consulting, E-Learning, Communities

Hikaru Kashida is a data scientist and is currently working at Mercari Inc., Japan.

## Masaru Tange
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, SaaS

Masaru Tange graduated from Kyoto University and joined Incs Inc. in 2000 where he started their IT business and strategy consulting group with only 2 members and developed it into the company's main business with a team of 140 consultants with annual revenue of $50M in 5 years. He then founded SHIFT Inc in 2005 in his studio apartment. He wasthe only employee. The business world wasn't very kind to him - he made no revenue for a while but he kept experimenting with the business model listening to the needs of customers. In 2009, he finally found traction in the "software testing industry." In 2014, Masaru successfully IPO'ed the company. Shift now has 500 employees.

## Meltem Demirors
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Financial Services

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, an investment firm that manages $750M in assets, and is a trusted partner to investors and entrepreneurs navigating the digital asset ecosystem. Meltem oversees the firm’s managed strategies group and its New York office, and leads corporate development as a board director. Previously, shewas part of the founding team of Digital Currency Group. She teaches at MIT and Oxford, and serves on the WEF Blockchain Council. Meltem leads CoinShares' venture strategy and is an active angel investor, having invested in over 150 companies in the digital currency ecosystem since 2015.

## Mark Vranesh
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Focus: EdTech, Education, Social Media

Mark Vranesh was named Chief Financial Officer of financial and business experience in the software, entertainment and related technology industries. Mark also spent 8 years with Ernst & Young LLP’s high tech practice, most recently as an Audit Senior Manager and earned a degree in Business from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1990.

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