Naoto Kato, CEO of Cluster, to Speak at Asia's Largest Startup Conference 'Takeoff Tokyo 2026'

Cluster, Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Naoto Kato; hereinafter "Cluster"), which operates one of Japan's largest metaverse platforms, "cluster," is pleased to announce that CEO Naoto Kato will be a speaker at the major Asian startup conference "Takeoff Tokyo 2026" on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

In this session, he is scheduled to appear alongside Jia Shen, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded RockYou and currently serves as CEO of SHISA.AI and AKA Virtual.

【Session Overview】 In this session, the two entrepreneurs will engage in a dialogue under the theme: "From Entertainment to Infrastructure: Why the Next Trillion-Dollar Company Might Look Like a Game."

Through "cluster," a leading domestic metaverse platform with over 35 million cumulative event attendees, Kato has promoted the industrial application of virtual spaces across sectors ranging from entertainment to local government, education, and manufacturing.

Jia Shen is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded RockYou in 2006, leading the social gaming revolution on MySpace and Facebook. He currently leads SHISA.AI, which includes AKA Virtual (a virtual character production company) and Chotto.chat (a Japanese-specialized LLM and real-time voice translation service), and continues to expand globally from his base in Japan.

Addressing the core theme of Takeoff Tokyo—"From Tokyo to the World"—the session will focus on three key pillars: the industrial application of gaming technology, the global expansion of Japanese content IP, and the fusion of AI and virtual spaces.

【Session Details】 ■ Event Name: Takeoff Tokyo 2026 ■ Date and Time: Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 15:10–15:40 ■ Venue: Tokyo Big Sight South Halls 1 & 2 ■ Session Format: Dialogue ■ Language: [Japanese / English] ■ Theme: "From Entertainment to Infrastructure: Why the Next Trillion-Dollar Company Might Look Like a Game" ■ Admission: https://www.takeoff-tokyo.com/

【About Takeoff Tokyo 2026】 Takeoff Tokyo is one of Asia's largest startup conferences, bringing together startups, investors, and corporations with global ambitions. Founded in 2023 as an "international terminal for startups," it gathers entrepreneurs and investors aiming to take flight from Tokyo to the world. Dates: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 – Wednesday, April 1, 2026 Official Website: https://www.takeoff-tokyo.com/

Speaker Profiles Naoto Kato (CEO, Cluster, Inc.) Studied cosmology and quantum computing at the Kyoto University Faculty of Science. Founded the VR startup "Cluster" in 2015. In 2017, he launched "cluster," a VR platform capable of hosting large-scale virtual events. In 2018, he was selected by Forbes JAPAN as one of the "30 Under 30" changing the world. He was named in the top 20 of the "Japan Entrepreneur Ranking" for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. Author of "Metaverse: Goodbye to the Age of Atoms" (Shueisha/2022).

Jia Shen (Co-founder of RockYou, CEO of SHISA.AI) CEO of SHISA.AI / CEO of AKA Virtual Co-founded RockYou in San Francisco in 2006. Led the social app revolution on MySpace and Facebook, acquiring a total of 400 million users. Currently based in Tokyo, he leads AKA Virtual, which produces virtual characters and VTubers, and SHISA.AI, which develops the Japanese-specialized LLM "Shisa V2" and the real-time voice translation service "Chotto.chat." A serial entrepreneur who has utilized major IPs such as Pokémon, Disney, and Sonic, reaching over 160 million people globally.