FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Finance
Shunsaku Sagami
Age 34 · M&A brokerage and business succession · Japan
A founder applying software and data to Japan's small-company succession market.
- Age at the edition eligibility date
- 34
- Field
- Finance
- Country or region
- Japan
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 85.0 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Shunsaku Sagami founded the company now known as Quants Research Institute Holdings around a software- and data-led approach to M&A brokerage. Its central market is Japan's business-succession problem: profitable small companies often lack an heir, while conventional advisory economics can make modest transactions difficult to serve. A review of the brokerage's completed record found that more than two-thirds of target companies had annual revenue of no more than ¥500 million, indicating that the model reached beyond headline corporate deals.
In January 2025 the group completed the establishment of Souken Leasing, with Sagami as representative, adding an operating-lease finance business. It had also established a Singapore presence, although its mature transaction record remained predominantly Japanese. The group reported an average completion period of about 7.1 months in the first quarter of 2025; that is a company measure and should be read as evidence of its operating model, not an independent guarantee of transaction quality.
FigureAsia selection
Why Shunsaku Sagami is on the list
FigureAsia selected Sagami because he built and retained direct responsibility for a financial service aimed at a structurally important market. His founder role, controlling voting interest and formal responsibility for strategy make the agency chain clear. The relevant accomplishment is not a rise in market value: it is a completed body of smaller-company succession transactions and the creation of systems intended to make that work faster and more economical.
The selection also recognises a completed 2025 extension into leasing while keeping its importance in proportion. Souken Leasing was established, but its long-term performance was not yet proven at the evidence cutoff. Similarly, a Singapore office establishes cross-border intent rather than a mature international franchise. Sagami's strongest case remains the Japanese succession market and the operating platform he built to serve it.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
Built a completed record in smaller-company succession
The brokerage completed a substantial body of transactions concentrated among smaller Japanese targets, establishing an operating record beyond its software proposition.
Souken Leasing established
The group completed the formation of an operating-lease finance subsidiary with Sagami as representative, extending its activities beyond M&A brokerage.
Field context
The work in its field
Japan's ageing owner-manager population has made small-business succession a financial-infrastructure problem. Without buyers, advisers and workable transaction processes, viable employers can close for reasons unrelated to customer demand or profitability.
Technology can reduce search and process costs, but it does not eliminate the judgement, negotiation and conflicts inherent in brokerage. The quality of Sagami's contribution therefore rests on completed transfers and accountable execution, not on presenting M&A as fully automated.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
85.0out of 100
Completed financial consequence
26 / 30
Built a completed record in smaller-company succession is treated as a delivered financial outcome. The score is confined to the completed result described in the record and excludes projections or paper valuation.
Individual agency and execution
22 / 25
The documented role—Founder and Chief Executive—and the attributed actions in the profile establish accountable execution. Institution-wide results are not assigned to the person alone.
Verified reach and significance
17 / 20
Japan's ageing owner-manager population has made small-business succession a financial-infrastructure problem. Without buyers, advisers and workable transaction processes, viable employers can close for reasons unrelated to customer demand or profitability.
Innovation and field influence
12 / 15
The record combines m&a brokerage and business succession with the completed work described in Souken Leasing established. Credit reflects demonstrated practice, not a claim of novelty by itself.
Stewardship, access and Asian relevance
8 / 10
The Asian connection is explicit: A Japanese founder addressing the country's small-company succession market through a Tokyo-listed brokerage and an emerging Singapore presence. Stewardship credit is limited to the regulatory, governance, access or stakeholder evidence described in the profile.