Bio
A former Japanese diplomat of 15 years, Ren Ito co-founded Sakana AI, the Tokyo-based research company developing nature-inspired AI foundation models. He earlier led Mercari's international expansion as CEO of Mercari Europe and orchestrated the marketplace's IPO, then served in 2022 as chief operating officer of Stability AI. Ito graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law, holds an LLM from NYU School of Law, and is admitted to the New York bar.