Welcoming Aoi Nishimatsu as an Associate at DNX Ventures

We welcome our newest member to the DNX family, Aoi Nishimatsu. She joined us as an Associate in our Tokyo Office. Aoi spent her childhood through college in the U.S., and prior to joining DNX, Aoi worked at Mitsui & Co., where she was involved in the energy industry. With her global background and her business execution skills cultivated at one of Japan’s top general investment companies, she will provide a great deal of value to our portfolio startups. In her interview, Aoi talks about her career, her background, and why she decided to join DNX Ventures.

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I am Aoi Nishimatsu, and I joined DNX in September 2022.

In my previous job, I was engaged in investment in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business in the Energy Division of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and was in charge of shareholder management of investment projects in Qatar and Russia, project finance negotiations, contractual practices, and management support for overseas subsidiaries and joint venture companies.

From U.S. to Japan

I was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan but moved to the U.S. at the age of four to the suburbs of Chicago due to my father’s work. After ten years of living in the States, my parents decided to live in the U.S. permanently, and therefore, I also thought I would live in the U.S. forever. However, when I was about to graduate from high school, I felt strongly that I wanted to live in Japan at least once in my life and after a loooong hard discussion with my parents, I won their permission to go to college in Japan.

I enjoyed my college life in Kyoto, and with my gut feeling telling me to stay in Japan, I decided to work in Japan instead of returning to the U.S. I wished to work in a job with overseas connections, so I applied to foreign financial institutions and IT companies as a new graduate in addition to trading companies. As a result, I joined Mitsui & Co. and was involved in large-scale investment projects in the Energy Division. I gained the experience of working with overseas operating companies and foreign shareholders on a daily basis to promote the project, and I am very grateful to my former job for giving me this invaluable experience.

From Trading Company to VC

As I was engaged in a large-scale investment project, I got to know and gain friendships with Qataris, French, Chinese, Russians, and many others, but one day I began to wonder if I really wished to continue working in this job for the rest of my life. I enjoyed the people I worked with very much, and I was confident that I could gain a certain level of satisfaction and fulfillment by continuing my career. On the other hand, I strongly felt that I had only one life to live and that I would definitely regret working only at just one company.

From a curious coincidence, I got to know about DNX. After researching the VC and startup industries, my interest and curiosity grew, and I decided that this was the place where I should take on a new challenge. After meeting the members of the DNX team, my feelings have become even stronger, and lucky me, I am sitting where I am now.

Finally

A month has passed since I joined, and my journey as a venture capitalist has just started. As a member of the DNX team, I hope to become a trusted partner for both investors and entrepreneurs.