Ryo Kato

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, he worked at the Financial Department of Chuo Aoyama Audit Corporation, where he also engaged in audit work and DD work for M&A. After that, he worked at Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd.'s Securitization Products Department, where he was involved in securitization of monetary claims, including mortgage loans, and partnership work with regional banks.

After that, he worked on IPO preparations as CFO at Fortravel Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Kakaku.com), and worked on cross-border M&A at Barclays Securities Co., Ltd.'s Investment Banking Headquarters TMT Sector and FIG. After becoming independent, he provided consulting close to the management team, mainly for venture companies aiming for IPO, including financing, business planning and capital policy formulation, equity story construction, and business development. At the same time, he also provided M&A advisory services as an exit option.

At listed companies, he has served as director and CFO of Digital Plus Co., Ltd. and outside director of United & Collective Co., Ltd. In March 2021, he became an auditor of bitFlyer Blockchain Co., Ltd. (current position), in March 2022 he became a director who is an audit and supervisory committee member of bitFlyer Co., Ltd., and in March 2023 he became a director who is an audit and supervisory committee member of bitFlyer Holdings Co., Ltd.