In January 2023, Akur8 officially opened its Tokyo office. After a transformative and exciting year, Akur8 is now more prepared than ever to expand our presence globally and thrive in Japan and the region.

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A new office 

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Akur8 established its office adjacent to the iconic Shibuya Scramble crossing, internationally famous for being one of the busiest places in the world. The opening of this new office marked a key milestone in Akur8’s expansion journey, as Japan is one of the strategic growth markets for the company. 

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Several Akur8 employees temporarily relocated from Paris to Tokyo to embark on a new professional adventure. They were soon joined by locals, forming an incredible international team.

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An extraordinary team 

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Throughout the past year, our Tokyo office welcomed several international members and saw the arrival of two new local hires.

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Mr. Suguru Fujita, Actuarial Data Scientist at Akur8, joined the company one year ago. Mr. Fujita is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Japan, an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, a Certified Specialist in Predictive Analytics, and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary. With over ten years of actuarial experience in both life and non-life insurance, he joined Akur8 to empower pricing teams to make smoother decisions through Akur8’s machine learning native technology.

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Mr. Fujita and the rest of the team were soon joined by Mr. Tomonosuke Katagiri, Sales Director at Akur8. Previously heading the Aladdin Client Transformation team within BlackRock Solutions (BRS) at BlackRock in Japan, Mr. Katagiri now focuses on business development in Japan and Korea.

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Akur8’s local team closely collaborates with our Parisian team, which travels intermittently to Tokyo to organize events or meet with clients. Together, they have already made significant progress in transforming the Japanese insurance pricing sector and enhancing our support to clients and partners.

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An eventful, successful year…

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2023 was indeed a busy year for our Japanese team: we actively participated in many events, such as Insuretech Connect Japan, the Open Discussion Forum of the Institute of Actuaries of Japan’s Annual Conference, and Hack Osaka.

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Additionally, Akur8 hosted its first Insurance Pricing Summit in Japan! Samuel Falmagne (CEO at Akur8) and Brune de Linares (Chief Client Officer at Akur8), had the pleasure of presenting Akur8 and its new Japanese team at the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan. 

We had the privilege of welcoming distinguished speakers, including Mr. Takeshi Fujioka (General manager, IT Planning department, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance), Mr. Takayuki Saito (Associate Partner, EY Japan), and Mr. Kenichi Sato (CTO & Chief Actuary, Senior Corporate Officer, AXA Direct Japan).

This event attracted 55 insurers, consultants and regulators, and it was both thrilling and humbling for us to welcome so many leading pricing experts and industry leaders.

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All this activity was definitely fruitful: we now have 7 customers in Japan including leading insurers like AXA Direct Japan and entities of MS&AD Insurance Group. However, this is only the beginning, and we cannot wait to see Akur8’s evolution in Japan this year!

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… giving way to an even more promising year!

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This second year in Japan is starting strong already, as we are invited to join FinCity Tokyo on January 24. We will also join ITC Japan as a Thought Leadership sponsor in March. 

Many more events and exciting projects are in the pipeline for 2024, so… stay tuned for what’s to come!