Yohei Kiguchi

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Yohei Kiguchi
城口 洋平
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Born (1987-08-05) 5 August 1987 (age 36)
NationalityJapanese
Alma materFaculty of Law, University of Tokyo
Ph.D. In Engineering, University Of Cambridge[1]
OccupationFounder & CEO,
ENECHANGE Ltd.,
ENECHANGE Innovation Ltd.
Managing Partner, JAPAN ENERGY Fund
AwardsForbes 30 Under 30 Europe
JX Awards 2022

Yohei Kiguchi (born August 5, 1987[2] - ) is a Japanese entrepreneur, business executive, holder of a doctorate degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge. He founded ENECHANGE Ltd. in Japan and SMAP ENERGY (now ENECHANGE Innovation Ltd.) in the UK and is CEO of both companies. He is Managing Partner of JAPAN ENERGY Fund. He is a commissioner of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan Association of Corporate Executives, Japan Association of New Economy, participating in policy recommendations for carbon-neutral strategies. In 2017, he became the first Japanese person to be listed as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. [3] He also received the "First JX Awards 2022" presented by the Japan Association of New Economy.[4] He lives in London.[5]

Early Life

Kiguchi was born in 1987 as the eldest son of a long-established company that had been in business for over 100 years. He grew up in Kobe, Hyōgo. Immersed in tennis and participated in national tournaments aiming for the championship. However, in sixth grade of elementary school, suffered a devastating defeat against Kei Nishikori, who was two years younger, which led to the decision to strive for academic excellence. Enrolled in Nada Junior and Senior High School.[6] At the age of 16, while serving as the student council president in high school, he had the opportunity to meet OPT, Inc. founder, Noboru Hachimine, who was invited as a guest speaker for an extracurricular lesson. This encounter inspired him to aspire to become an entrepreneur.[7] In 2006, he entered the University of Tokyo.

Career

As a student entrepreneur

After entering university, Kiguchi joined Suzuki Kan's seminar and was inspired. In the same year, 2006, he and around 20 friends opened the "Collabo Clinic Shinjuku," a convenience store-style clinic offering nighttime medical service, with a capital of 1.2 million yen. This clinic was transferred to a medical corporation, and subsequently closed at the end of the following year.[8]}}
He established University of Tokyo and Harvard University exchange program called "HCAP (Harvard College in Asia Program)". This initiative received University of Tokyo President's Award in 2016.[9]
In 2008, he moved to the US and stayed in Silicon Valley. Impressed by Mochio Umeda's book "Web Shinkaron" (The Theory of Web Evolution), he met Umeda in the same area, which sparked his determination to start his own business.[6]
In 2009, with the cooperation of the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology he founded the venture company milog Inc..[10] Although they fundraised approximately 4 million US$ from venture capitalists, they faced criticism when it was revealed that they accidentally collected user data, including information on app launches and device information from Android smartphones, without user consent. In 2012, the company was dissolved and liquidated.[11]

Pursuit of his study after the disaster

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011 made him aware of the current state of Japan's energy industry and its low energy self-sufficiency. This prompted him to start developing business plans in the energy sector. The district of Higashinada, where his alma mater Nada Junior and Senior High School is located, was severely damaged by the Great Hanshin earthquake. In 2005, during his high school years, he organized a charity concert to support the victims. He also regularly visited the disaster-stricken areas with his high school friends during the Great East Japan Earthquake, but he felt frustrated as they could only contribute to a limited extent by assisting in debris removal. These personal experiences of both earthquakes and witnessing the impact of the collapse of essential infrastructure like electricity motivated him to work on solving energy-related challenges.[3][7]
In 2013, he enrolled in the University of Cambridge to acquire expertise in the energy sector. He selected the UK as his study destination due to similarities in geographical and institutional conditions with Japan, as well as the progress in liberalizing the electricity market.[12] While pursuing his doctoral studies, he received a funding of US$ 1million from Yoshiyuki Iwasaki, an angel investor and CEO of EPCO Co., Ltd.[13]
With this funding, in June 2013, he established an industry-university collaborative research institute “Cambridge Energy Data Lab Limited” and he became the director of the institute. He focused on research on energy data analysis there.[14]

Founding of energy tech companies

Based on his research at Cambridge Energy Data Lab Limited, he started ENECHANGE Ltd. in 2015, one year before the energy liberalization in Japan. In 2016 he founded SMAP ENERGY Ltd.（now ENECHANGE Innovation Ltd.）in the UK.
In 2017, ENECHANGE Ltd. and SMAP ENERGY Ltd. merged, and he became the Chairman of the company.[15]
In 2019, JAPAN ENERGY Fund was established to invest in overseas energy ventures in the decarbonization field, and he became a Managing Partner of the fund.[16]

Public listing of ENECHANGE Ltd.

Within five years of the founding ENECHANGE Ltd., the company became the first energy tech company to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers in December 2020.[17][18]
In November 2021, the company attained US$1 billion market capitalization, reaching Unicorn status. It has achieved rapid growth within a few years since their establishment.[19]

As a researcher

He started at the University of Cambridge in 2013 and he conducted analytical research on prediction models for electricity data obtained from smart meters. In 2017 he completed his doctoral research and took a leave of absence to prioritize his business. The two papers he published were featured in the peer-reviewed academic journal "Energy," published by Elsevier, in 2019 and 2021.[20][21]
He received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Cambridge in the UK on 22 December 2021.[1]

Personal

During his time at the University of Cambridge, Kiguchi had interactions such as attending the same lectures as Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind. Hassabis and he had a common goal of starting their own ventures, which is why they both enrolled in the doctoral program at the university. Both of them strategically drove noticeable Porsches to attract attention from other students on campus.[3]
He is estimated to have a net worth of US$ 163 million in December 2021 and ranked 47th on the list of wealthiest startup entrepreneurs.[22]

Biography

  • 2006 - Graduated from Nada High School
  • 2010 - Graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo
  • 2015 - ENECHANGE Ltd. CEO
  • 2016 - ENECHANGE Innovation Ltd. CEO
  • 2017 - Completed his doctoral research at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Cambridge
  • 2019 - JAPAN ENERGY Fund Managing Partner

Other roles

  • METI ”Next Generation Smart Meter System Review Committee” commissioner[23]
  • METI ”Energy Efficiency Guidelines for Energy Retailers Review Committee” observer[24]
  • JANE “Carbon Neutral Working Group” vice chairperson[25]
  • Trilateral Commission Asia Pacific Fellows[26]

Awards

  • 2017 Selected Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe (as the first Japanese person )
  • 2022 Received the 1st JX Awards

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "ENECHANGE CEO Receives Doctorate in Engineering from University of Cambridge". ENECHANGE Ltd. 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  2. ↑ "役員の状況". IR Bank (in 日本語). Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "フォーブスが選ぶ30歳未満、欧州版で唯一リスト入りした日本人". Forbes (in 日本語). 2018-03-31. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  4. ↑ "JANE's 10th Anniversary Event Japan Transformation ～Entrepreneurs transforming Japan!～". Japan Association of New Economy. 2022-06-09. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  5. ↑ "Enechange: Yohei Kiguchi harnesses the power of energy for change". bridge. 2023-05-05. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "灘高 元生徒会長 城口洋平の頭脳". 現代ビジネス (in 日本語). 2010-05-07. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "イノベーターズ・トークvol.175 電力イノベーターの先を読む力". NewsPicks (in 日本語). 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  8. ↑ "「都会の働き手は時間的医療弱者」～現場からの医療改革推進協議会第14回シンポから①". Navitas Clinic Blog (in 日本語). 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  9. ↑ "学生表彰「東京大学総長賞」歴代受賞者名・題目一覧" (PDF). University of Tokyo (in 日本語). Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  10. ↑ "創業3ヵ月で1億円の資金調達に成功した「大学発ベンチャー株式会社ミログ」". The journal of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers (in 日本語). 64 (3): 318–321. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  11. ↑ "ミログが会社清算　"スパイアプリ"問題で批判、再出発断念". ITmedia News (in 日本語). 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  12. ↑ "巨大なエネルギー業界をドライブさせる存在でありたい / ENECHANGE株式会社の創業ストーリー（城口・有田編）". Wantedly ENECHANGE Ltd. (in 日本語). 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  13. ↑ "エネチェンジ物語・その1". Iwasaki Group CEO Blog “a route” (in 日本語). 2016-02-13. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  14. ↑ "エネチェンジ 城口 洋平 代表取締役会長「エネルギーデータの活用で持続可能な世界の実現を」エネルギー業界のデジタルシフトに挑む若き起業家」". Digital Shift Times (in 日本語). 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  15. ↑ "エネチェンジ、イギリス・ケンブリッジ大学 発産学連携ベンチャーSMAP ENERGY社との経営統合で 日本の電力市場にAIを活用した電力データ解析事業で本格参入　～新・代表取締役会長にForbes 30 Under 30 Europeに日本初選出の城口洋平が就任～". ENECHANGE Ltd. (in 日本語). 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  16. ↑ "Our Team". Japan Energy Fund. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  17. ↑ "Notice of Listing on the Mothers Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Securities Code:4169)". ENECHANGE Ltd. 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  18. ↑ "【株価高騰】僕らは、「脱炭素」にマストなベンチャーだ". NewsPicks (in 日本語). 2020-12-29. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  19. ↑ "【評価30倍】僕らは「脱炭素」で、もう一つの勝負をかける". NewsPicks (in 日本語). 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  20. ↑ "Predicting intra-day load profiles under time-of-use tariffs using smart meter data". Science Direct. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  21. ↑ "Predicting winners and losers under time-of-use tariffs using smart meter data". Science Direct. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  22. ↑ "【大発表】スタートアップ起業家「長者番付100」". NewsPicks (in 日本語). 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  23. ↑ "次世代スマートメーター制度検討会（第1回）議事概要" (PDF). METI (in 日本語). Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  24. ↑ "エネルギー小売事業者の省エネガイドライン検討会 （2022年度第1回） 委員名簿" (PDF). METI (in 日本語). Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  25. ↑ "カーボンニュートラルワーキンググループを発足しました". JANE (in 日本語). 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  26. ↑ "Asia Pacific Fellows". Trilateral Commission. Retrieved 2023-06-11.

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