Entrepreneurs  are core.

We support world-class entrepreneurs in building valuable businesses.

Shinya Akamine founded Core Ventures Group in 2012 and shortly afterwards recruited Joanna Drake as a Co-Founding General Partner. They are experienced operators who work closely with a concentrated portfolio of founders from Core Ventures Group seed stage funds I and II.

They draw from their entrepreneurial experiences and diverse human capital networks to help start-ups overcome early market challenges and build not just breakthrough products, but category leading, sustainable businesses.

Shinya Akamine

General Partner (in memoriam)

Shinya Akamine earned B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., degrees from Stanford in Electrical Engineering. He was recognized by Stanford as one of its most prolific inventors. Shinya was part of the team that opened the first McKinsey & Company’s Silicon Valley office.

After successfully mastering business spreadsheets as a management consultant, he went on to play executive leadership roles at four Silicon Valley venture-backed technology start-ups, including serving as GM at Cygnus Solutions (sold to Red Hat) and serving as Founder and CEO of Postini (sold to Google). Shinya speaks four languages: English, Japanese, Spanish and Founder.

Joanna Drake

General Partner

Joanna entered the business world from Stanford University as a management consultant with Booz Allen’s Media and Technology practice. She became a serial start-up executive beginning in the late 1990s. She has launched many world’s “first” award winning media technology products: personalized video newscasts from ReacTV, advanced set top box media services via Moxi, and Viewer Created TV at Current TV. Her most recent executive role was running the Western operations for leading Japanese public mobile company DeNA as COO. Joanna is a board member of the most prominent female Executive group C200 and the preeminent angel investor group Broadway Angels.

Founder Focus

We invest in curious and ambitious founders of the highest character and integrity who are committed to assembling well-rounded business and technical teams. In our experience, these are core strengths upon which great companies are built. We primarily invest in seed stage companies with proven business models and advanced technologies.