Takashi (“Taka”) Sano has joined MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) in 2021 as Chief Investment Officer. Taka leads startup investment and open innovation initiative with building and managing over 40 portfolios across the U.S., Israel, Asia and Africa with its AUM $650m fund. Prior to joining MUIP, Taka was at Global Brain, a venture capital firm based in Japan, to launch its Southeast Asia investment operation in Singapore and lead global FinTech investment as well as CVC management. He began his career as a finance controller at Sony's headquarters, where he oversaw several projects for technology and intellectual property investment and acquisition, as well as joint venture creation. Taka then moved to head the retail energy business, where he managed divisional P&L for global teams across the U.S., Europe, APAC, and the Middle East.