Ren Ito is the Co-Founder and COO of Sakana AI, Japan’s fastest unicorn after one year in business, backed by Nvidia and a broad spectrum of Japanese enterprises. Previously, Ren was CEO of Mercari Europe, Japan’s first unicorn. Before tech, Ren spent 15 years as a Japanese diplomat where he worked on the security alliance with the US, negotiated a free trade agreement with the EU, and represented Japan at the World Bank board.