We are a cross-border alliance advisory firm focusing on partnerships between North America and Japan.

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Cando Advisorsは米国サンフランシスコ・ベイエリアを拠点とするイノベーション・事業提携コンサルタントです。米国を中心とした業界・ベンチャーの動向を参考に新事業戦略・アライアンス戦略などのアドバイスを提供します。

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Chako Ando, Principal, has over 25 years of consulting, startup, investment banking and capital markets experience. Since 2002, Ms. Ando has advised both U.S. and Japanese companies on their funding, alliance and go-to-market strategies. Before starting founding Cando Advisors, Ms. Ando was the COO and Vice President for Business Development at Fitech Laboratories, a cross-border software startup based in San Francisco and Tokyo. She previously served as a VP in the M&A department of Daiwa America; manager of a venture capital investment fund for the Industrial Bank of Japan; and a VP of derivatives credit management with Sumitomo Bank Capital Markets.

She is a CFA Charter holder.  A Tokyo native, Ms. Ando obtained her MBA at Stanford.

Yukio Sakaguchi, Partner, brings to CANDO ADVISORS deep high-tech expertise and more than30 years of experience in semiconductors, device physics, software and cleantechnology. He began building his successful trackrecord at Hitachi’s U.S. and Japanese semiconductor divisions, where he made important contributions to company level planning, business development, product development and production coordination. After 17 years at Hitachi, he joined an early stage company and helped its growth by securing major corporate accounts from Japan. Before joining Cando Advisors, he founded, secured venture capital for and led Applause Technologies, a media chip and software solutions startup with offices in Silicon Valley and Tokyo. Yukio specializes in fostering close and strategic alliances with customers and in solving their business and development issues.