Daniel Fujii

Daniel K. Fujii is President & Chief Executive Officer of Trust Capital Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based alternative asset management and M&A advisory firm founded in 2000 (headquartered in the Sakura Muromachi Building, Chuo-ku). The firm manages private equity and mezzanine vehicles — including the Chuo Mitsui Private Equity Partners series — and is associated with Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Trust group lineage. Fujii also serves as President & CEO of GK Trust Capital Mezzanine.

Before Trust Capital, Fujii was Representative Director of The Blackstone Group Japan K.K., where he focused on establishing the Blackstone franchise across its full product set: private equity, real estate, credit, and M&A advisory, and led Blackstone's charitable efforts in Japan, including support for entrepreneurship. He was hired to help build out Blackstone's Tokyo presence. Prior to Blackstone, he spent roughly six years at Shinsei Bank, where he founded and headed the bank's private equity practice and also ran its mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance operations, chairing its merchant banking committee. Across his career he has sat on the investment committees of multiple private equity platforms covering leveraged buyouts, retail, infrastructure, PIPEs, corporate restructurings, and Greater China opportunities, and has served on the boards of companies in retail, media/content, manufacturing, and technology.

A self-described bridge between U.S. and Japanese capital markets, Fujii has said he "introduced American-born concepts, like the corporate buyout model and investment banking, to Japanese markets." He spent about 24 years in the United States and is a graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, earning a BA from Harvard College and an MA from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Beyond his investment career, Fujii is deeply embedded in U.S.–Japan institutional and entrepreneurial networks. He is an Executive Committee member of the Silicon Valley Japan Platform (SVJP), President/Board Director of the Harvard Club of Japan, a member of the Asia Council of Phillips Andover, a Board of Councilor of the U.S.-Japan Council, a founding member of Asia Society Japan, an advisory board member of the Asian Cultural Council Japan, and a board trustee of the American School in Japan.

• Operates primarily through Trust Capital's institutional private equity, mezzanine, and real estate strategies rather than as a classic angel writing seed checks; mezzanine financing (subordinate to senior debt, senior to equity) is a core product, frequently used in leveraged buyouts.
• Invests across leveraged buyouts, growth capital, infrastructure, PIPEs, and corporate restructurings, with a track record of board-level involvement in retail, media/content, manufacturing, and technology companies.
• Cross-border orientation: brings U.S. private-equity and investment-banking playbooks to the Japanese market, and channels Japanese institutional capital into U.S. and European opportunities (and vice versa).
• On a personal basis, channels early-stage interest through mentorship — via SVJP and his U.S.–Japan network — supporting venture entrepreneurs bridging Silicon Valley and Japan, rather than running a formal seed fund.
• Emphasizes continuous learning and networks: "How you combine your education and your professional network can lead to many opportunities," and urges founders to "get out of your comfort zone and think outside of the box."