HEAD OF ASIAN STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR BANK OF MITSUBISHI UFJ'S MARKETS DIVISION NAMED CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER (CSO) OF UPWARD

(Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: https://upward.jp), whose mission is to "Innovate the Last Mile on the Frontline," announced today that Hiromasa Shimono, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of UPWARD, who has been engaged in strategic planning for foreign exchange trading and markets division at Bank of Mitsubishi UFJ in Tokyo and Singapore, will join UPWARD on April 5, 2022. Hiromasa Shimono, who has been engaged in foreign exchange trading and market division strategy and planning in Tokyo and Singapore, specializes in developing strategies to maximize business both domestically and internationally, and has been appointed as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of the Company on April 5, 2022.

Background

Sales Engagement" is a strategy that connects salespeople with customers and raises the resolution of the entire company toward its customers. Although still in its infancy, the market is expected to grow to 630 billion yen by 2023, and UPWARD was one of the first to enter this market. In addition, we have built up a high contract renewal rate (98.7%) with more than 300 companies, mainly major corporations. With the recent selection as one of Forbes Japan's "Japan's CLOUD TOP 20", Shimono, a professional in strategy development including overseas expansion, will join as a new CSO to further expand business and maximize corporate value, With the addition of Mr. Shimono as CSO, we aim to further expand our business, maximize our corporate value, and enhance our presence as a leading sales engagement service company.

RYUSUKE KANEKI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, UPWARD CO.

We are very proud to announce the appointment of Hiromasa Shimono as our CSO. I expect that he will be able to utilize the market insight and wealth of strategic planning experience he has cultivated in his previous positions to build a comprehensive, high-level business strategy platform across business divisions. In order to realize medium- to long-term business plans, it is important to always have a "recovery plan" that flexibly responds to changes in the environment, such as "setting milestones in reverse" and "Plan B and C" with a high resolution. We believe that it is important to always have a "recovery plan" that flexibly responds to changes in the environment, such as "setting milestones in reverse" with high resolution and "Plan B and C." We also believe that this leads to the construction of a "Moat (moat: a moat that protects a business castle when it is attacked by external enemies = the competitive advantage of a company). Our team will continue to work together to realize strategy-driven management that balances offense and defense.

HIROMASA SHIMONO, CSO, GENERAL MANAGER, CORPORATE PLANNING DIVISION, UPWARD CO.

UPWARD'S PIONEERING WORK IN THE AREA OF SALES ENGAGEMENT IS EXPECTED TO BECOME A KEY ELEMENT OF DX IN THE SALES FIELD IN THE FUTURE, BOTH IN JAPAN AND OVERSEAS. I HAVE COME TO JOIN UPWARD BECAUSE I DEEPLY EMPATHIZE WITH THE COMPANY'S MISSION. I WILL MAKE THE MOST OF MY EXPERIENCE IN ASIA AND ELSEWHERE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXPANSION OF THE BUSINESS THROUGH THE FORMULATION AND EXECUTION OF STRATEGIES, WHILE STRENGTHENING THE STRUCTURE AND FOUNDATION THAT WILL SUPPORT UPWARD'S RAPID GROWTH, AND I WILL STRIVE TO ENHANCE THE CORPORATE VALUE AND CREATE A COMPANY IN WHICH INVESTORS CAN INVEST WITH CONFIDENCE.

HIROMASA SHIMONO, CSO, GENERAL MANAGER, CORPORATE PLANNING DIVISION, UPWARD CO.

GRADUATED FROM HITOTSUBASHI UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF ECONOMICS, AND JOINED MITSUBISHI UFJ BANK IN 2005, WHERE HE WAS ENGAGED IN TRADING OPERATIONS IN THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET IN TOKYO AND SINGAPORE. HE WAS THEN TRANSFERRED TO BANGKOK, WHERE HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE ACQUISITION AND INTEGRATION OF BANK OF AYUTTHAYA. AFTER RETURNING TO JAPAN, HE WAS IN CHARGE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR THE ENTIRE GROUP'S MARKET OPERATIONS AND ENGAGED IN THE FORMULATION OF MID-TERM MANAGEMENT PLANS. HE JOINED UPWARD IN APRIL 2022.