Yamaha Corporation

This marks the first time Billboard has created a dedicated list for financial professionals — expanding beyond those featured in its annual Power 100 — to honor the investors, financiers and advisers who operate behind the scenes to drive innovation across the business of music.

YMI was launched in April 2024 as Yamaha’s business development base in Silicon Valley and was incorporated in January 2025, with Sugino appointed as its first president and CEO. In May 2025, Kahn — who has deep expertise at the intersection of music, entertainment and technology as an investor, operator and founder — joined as managing partner to launch Yamaha Music Innovations Fund I, LP, a US$50 million corporate venture capital fund. Fund I is designed to invest in companies with unique strengths in music, audio, creative industries and adjacent domains. Building on its existing collaboration efforts, the fund enables YMI to partner with external innovators through investment.

Since then, the fund has invested in five music and creator technology startups across creation tooling, royalty monitoring, live streaming and UGC (user-generated content), working to create an environment where artists and creators can generate new forms of value. These efforts have contributed to advancing the future of the music industry and were key factors recognized in this selection.

“In an era where content is consumed at unprecedented speed and AI is rapidly reshaping creative domains, what we seek to advance most through our investment and collaboration efforts is human creativity itself,” said Yusuke “Scott” Sugino, president and CEO of YMI. “The five startups we support share this philosophy as true partners, and we view our selection for the Billboard Finance 50 as global recognition of our beliefs and activities. We will continue to pursue business initiatives that contribute to the growth of human creativity and the evolution of culture.”

Andrew Kahn, managing partner, added: “We are honored to be recognized by Billboard so early in our firm’s existence alongside so many talented individuals and companies. I believe that we, as Yamaha’s investment arm, have a tremendous opportunity in front of us to help shape the future of creative industries with our capital and commitment to founders. We aim to become the go-to firm for the best and brightest building technology that will change where, how and who gets to create in the future.”

To learn more about Yamaha Music Innovations, visit:  https://yamahamusicinnovations.com/.