| Kaoru Hayashi | |
| Birth Date: | 26 December 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Koshimizu, Hokkaido, Japan |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Alma Mater: | Toyo University |
| Occupation: | Entrepreneur |
Kaoru Hayashi (born December 26, 1959) is a Japanese entrepreneur. He co-founded Digital Garage, a technology and fintech company, alongside Joi Ito.
Hayashi was born in Koshimizu, Hokkaido. He grew up in Kunitachi, Tokyo. Hayashi graduated from Toyo University, majoring in Mass Communication.[1]
In 1995, he and Joi Ito co-founded Digital Garage, a technology and fintech company.[2] [3] [4] Hayashi became the chairman and director of Kakaku.com after the company was acquired by Digital Garage in 2002. In 2010, he founded the accelerator program, Open Network Lab.[5] [6] [7] [8] He serves on the boards of Monex Group, VeriTrans and Credit Saison.[9] [10]
In 2017, he became a member of the Chevalier du Tastevin.
In 2021, he published “Digital Garage: Where the Future Begins, and to the Next First Penguins,” which looks back on 25 years of Japanese Internet history and talks about the next 25 years.[11] He launched the Numazu Club Inheritance Project in 2023 to preserve and revitalize the historic Numazu Club, a sukiya-style villa built in 1913.[12] [13] [14]