How we help Mizuho identify growth opportunities & breakthrough technology partners

Written By Ana Martinez

The Client

Mizuho Information & Research Institute (MHIR) is a strategic arm of Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japan’s largest banks.

The Objective

To remain competitive, MHIR must identify the latest breakthrough technologies in Japan as well as internationally.

The Solution

Our team provides MHIR a significant edge over their competitors by acting as an extension of their team to identify the latest breakthrough technologies outside of Japan. We have worked on 16 different projects with a wide range of focus areas including:

  • GenAI

  • FinTech

  • Health Tech

  • Food Waste

  • Sustainability

  • Employee Happiness

The Outcomes

MHIR has conducted 13 pilots with partners we have identified in each project and 4 commercial partnerships to scale the technology solutions across Japan.

Ana Martinez

Ana has extensive experience in corporate innovation. She has helped over 25 Global 1000 corporations from a wide range of industries develop new business strategies using the latest technologies in the market and has also led 70+ partnerships between corporations and startups. Ana has worked with corporate clients such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Volkswagen, Procter & Gamble, JetBlue, Mizuho, BP, Repsol, Nissan, Avis Budget Group, Magna, Renault, Ferguson, Allstate, GrainCorp, Givaudan, BSM, Griffith Foods, AGC, IAG, among others.

As a member of Rabobank’s first Innovation Team, Ana successfully launched Foodbytes, a pitch competition and networking platform that connects the top food and agriculture startups, corporates and investors. With 15 global pitch competitions, 260+ startup pitches and 4700+ attendees, Foodbytes has become the top startup pitch competitions in the food and agriculture industries. She also launched TERRA, a food and agriculture accelerator that brings together the industry’s most disruptive startups and leading corporations to fuel industry innovation and strategic partnerships.

Ana graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a major in Economics. She was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and loves to play golf!

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