Yohei Kiguchi

Yohei Kiguchi (born August 5, 1987 - ) 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. He also received the "First JX Awards 2022" presented by the Japan Association of New Economy. He lives in London.
==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. 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. 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.}}
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.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.
In 2009, with the cooperation of the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology he founded the venture company milog Inc.. 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.
===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.
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. While pursuing his doctoral studies, he received a funding of US$ 1million from Yoshiyuki Iwasaki, an angel investor and CEO of EPCO Co., Ltd.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.
===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.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.
===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.In November 2021, the company attained US$1 billion market capitalization, reaching Unicorn status. It has achieved rapid growth within a few years since their establishment. 
===As a researcher=== 
He started at the University of Cambridge in 2013 and he conducted analytical research on prediction models for electricity data obtained from smart meters. In 2017 he completed his doctoral research and took a leave of absence to prioritize his business. The two papers he published were featured in the peer-reviewed academic journal "Energy," published by Elsevier, in 2019 and 2021.He received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Cambridge in the UK on 22 December 2021.
==Personal== 
During his time at the University of Cambridge, Kiguchi had interactions such as attending the same lectures as Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind. Hassabis and he had a common goal of starting their own ventures, which is why they both enrolled in the doctoral program at the university. Both of them strategically drove noticeable Porsches to attract attention from other students on campus.He is estimated to have a net worth of US$ 163 million in December 2021 and ranked 47th on the list of wealthiest startup entrepreneurs.
==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
*METI ”Energy Efficiency Guidelines for Energy Retailers Review Committee” observer
*JANE “Carbon Neutral Working Group” vice chairperson
*Trilateral Commission Asia Pacific Fellows
==Awards==
*2017 Selected Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe (as the first Japanese person )
*2022 Received the 1st JX Awards 
Category:1987 births
Category:Japanese people
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Entrepreneurs
Category:Business executives
Category:Chief executive officers