Masaji Matsuoka has departed from Japan-based trading corporation Mistui & Co, where he worked for the company and its various subsidiaries for over 12 years.
Matsuoka has taken up a managing general director role at Magenta Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in Israel-based early-stage technology startups.
In mid-2004, Matsuoka initially held a manager position before adding an associate role at the company’s corporate venturing arm, Mitsui & Co Global Investment, in 2010.
Matsuoka began working full-time at Mitsui & Co Global Investment for five years from 2014, first as an investment director and later principal, focusing particularly on healthcare startups.
The parent firm then assigned Matsuoka with deputy general manager and general manager roles for its venture capital and private equity divisions for three years.
Founded in 1996, Mitsui & Co Global Investment seeks to invest in IT, life sciences and industrial startups and has 28 companies within its portfolio that centre around software, consumer goods and mobile technologies.
Mitsui & Co‘s portfolio companies included fabless semiconductor developer Autotalks and computer vision and gesture recognition technology developer Cipia.