Ren Ito

Ren Ito is an entrepreneur, investor, and former diplomat whose career spans international affairs, technology, and artificial intelligence. He has held senior leadership roles at several leading technology companies and has extensive experience working across governments, global businesses, investors, and the Japanese corporate sector.

Ito previously served as CEO of Mercari Europe from 2016 to 2019, where he led the company’s European expansion and played a key role in its successful IPO in 2018, which valued Mercari at approximately US$6 billion. He has also held executive and investment roles in the fintech and AI sectors, including at Afiniti, an AI technology company, and Stability AI, where he served as COO from 2022 to 2023 during the rapid emergence of generative AI.

In 2023, Ito co-founded Sakana AI in Tokyo with David Ha and Llion Jones. Bringing together expertise in technology, research, international policy, and business, the founding team set out to develop a new approach to AI research and deployment from Japan. Under Ito’s leadership, Sakana AI has built partnerships across Japan and internationally and rapidly emerged as one of the country’s leading AI companies.

Before moving into technology and entrepreneurship, Ito spent 15 years in Japan’s Foreign Service, from 2001 to 2015. During his diplomatic career, he worked on Japan-US security relations and the Japan-EU free trade agreement, and represented Japan on the World Bank Board.

Ito holds a Master of Laws from New York University School of Law, a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tokyo. He has been admitted to practice law in New York since 2005. He is currently a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law, where he continues to contribute to public policy discussions at the intersection of technological innovation and international politics.