Kazuhiro Kobayashi

Kazuhiro “Kazu” Kobayashi joined Sozo Ventures in April 2017.

As Sozo’s Head of Japan, he is responsible for helping portfolio companies create business development opportunities in Japan and other global markets.

After graduating from a computer college majoring in Electronic Computing and Computer Science, Kazu worked as a teacher. Then, while studying electronics engineering technology at Devry University, he had the opportunity to return to Japan and join NCR, where he was in charge of consulting sales, specializing in retail stores.

While working at IT Frontier, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corporation and IBM Japan, Kazuhiro established the SAP R/3 Infrastructure Operations Outsourcing Services business and established IT services collaborations with leading companies in the United States, Germany, China, and Brazil. He also established services that provide IT outsourcing services to Japanese customers operating worldwide.

After leaving IT Frontier, Kazuhiro decided to become a global entrepreneur. He succeeded in establishing a collective of famous Japanese ramen restaurants in China to promote cultural exchange between Japan and China through Japanese ramen. Changes in government regulations forced the restaurant to close for a time, but it reopened again.

When he returned to Japan, he worked for several IT companies and system consulting firms in IT system design, development, operation, and help-desk services for retailers, trading companies, and automobile and video equipment manufacturers.