About Us

ENECHANGE Insight is a programme run by ENECHANGE. The programme was created by a team of entrepreneurs, analysts, researchers, and experts in the energy sector with a goal of facilitating international collaboration and business development – particularly in Japan. Their accomplishments include the creation of successful energy tech startups ENECHANGE and SMAP Energy, internationally renowned business accelerators, and the $100M Japan Energy Fund (JEF).

Formerly managed as Japan Energy Challenge, the programme rebranded in 2021.

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Entrepreneurial Experience

The team behind ENECHANGE Insight has successfully founded and scaled companies in the international energy market.

ENECHANGE was founded in 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. It provides one of the most popular energy switching websites in Japan, having 3 million monthly unique visitors, and working with over 50 energy suppliers. It listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2020.

SMAP Energy, based in London, UK provides a SaaS (software as a service) solution enabling utilities to analyse energy consumption data using advanced machine learning techniques. Both companies were founded by the same team in the Cambridge Energy Data Lab at the University of Cambridge (UK).

Building an International Community

Following on the requests from numerous Japanese energy companies served by ENECHANGE and SMAP Energy, in 2018 the team created Japan Energy Challenge to help identify and bring other promising international companies to Japan. Japan Energy Challenge was a hit – leading to numerous investments and pilot projects between Japanese corporates and global energy startups.

This programme evolved into ENECHANGE Insight Ventures in 2021, and further expanded its scope to include Renewables projects in a new industry segment.

Funding Innovation

In 2020, ENECHANGE and SMAP Energy partnered with Daiwa Investment Securities, Looop and Hokuriku Electric Power Company to form Japan Energy Fund—a fund promoting investment in renewable energy assets primarily in emerging economies in the Middle East and Africa, as well as investing in leading climate tech and energy tech ventures from North America and Europe. The Fund complements the activities of ENECHANGE Insight, which acts as a pipeline for investment.

Our leadership

Yohei Kiguchi, PhD

Co-founder & CEO

About Yohei

Yohei is a serial entrepreneur and PhD student at the University of Cambridge with a passion for energy data. Throughout his career, he has founded four companies and has raised over US$15M in funding. Yohei was the second shareholder in ENECHANGE—currently the most popular Japanese energy switching company with over 3M monthly users—and a member of the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe class.

Paul Monroe

UK Office Lead

About Paul

Paul holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MPhil in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge. After working at NASA and a US-based consulting firm, he went on to found SMAP Energy, which was acquired by ENECHANGE in 2021. An expert on entrepreneurial ventures in the European energy sector, Paul is also a founding member of Japan Energy Challenge (now rebranded as ENECHANGE Insight Ventures) and a member of the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe class.

Adnan Mortada

MENA Office Lead

About Adnan

Adnan is a graduate from the University of Cambridge with a Master of Philosophy of Energy Engineering and PhD in Engineering. Adnan is a co-founder of SMAP ENERGY and oversees the Middle East team. He has a unique network in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) made of key energy sector players from these regions.

Yuichiro Shinohara

Japan Office Lead

About Yuichiro

Yuichiro is a graduate from the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He has previously worked for a private equity investment fund, as well as Eurus Energy—the largest wind power developer in Japan—and Tokyo Gas.

Our people

Jinan Bou Karroum

Business Development Manager

About Jinan

Jinan holds a Master of Science in Energy Studies and Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Computer engineering from the American University of Beirut. Jinan worked in management consulting for a Lebanese electricity utility before joining SMAP Energy and Looop MENA.

Imad Al Saabi

Business Development Officer

Satowa Kinoshita

Investment Officer

About Satowa

Satowa holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Natural Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge. Born in Japan and raised in Washington D.C., she worked as a management consultant with Oliver Wyman on projects spanning from ESG strategy development to private equity due diligence across APAC and North America. She also has experience in project finance for carbon projects in frontier markets with CrossBoundary, a global development finance firm.

Michael McDonnell

Business Development Associate

About Michael

Michael holds a Master of Science in Economics and Strategy for Business from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from City, University of London. He has prior experience working as a business development representative in the education technology sector in Japan.