Masataka Matsumoto
General Partner & Co‑founder·World Innovation Lab
Bio
Professional summary
Masataka Matsumoto is a General Partner and Co-founder at World Innovation Lab. According to WiL, he founded PIM Corporation in 1999 and led it as CEO until its merger with Yahoo! Japan. He later held senior leadership roles at Yahoo! Japan and SoftBank, including work on strategic investments, Yahoo! BB, Yahoo! Shopping, mobile business development, and new business incubation. His official profile positions him as an operator-investor with experience building and scaling consumer internet, communications, commerce, and B2B technology businesses in Japan.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
Sector
Thesis
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
A founder should lead with a clear Japan-market or cross-border growth story, especially if the company sits in consumer, commerce, communications, ad tech, or B2B SaaS. The most relevant angle is to show how the company can benefit from an operator-investor who has built and scaled major Japanese internet, mobile, and commerce businesses.
Partneralization hooks
- 1Reference his operating background at Yahoo! Japan and SoftBank when discussing Japanese market entry or scaling strategy.
- 2Connect the pitch to consumer internet, commerce, communications, ad tech, or B2B SaaS, which are listed as his WiL focus areas.
- 3For Japan-focused startups, emphasize business-building discipline and strategic partnerships rather than only financial metrics.
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