Before co-founding what became Spiral Ventures, Yuji Horiguchi spent 18 years at Recruit in media planning, user acquisition, and editorial roles, then served as CFO of IMJ Corporation, and in 2017 led a management buyout with other shareholders to take the firm independent from Culture Convenience Club. He personally started the effort back in 2012 while still at IMJ, pushed early into Southeast Asia by setting up a Singapore base that same year, and has stayed at the helm through its various names, building a reputation for finding startups like McClinica, PawnHero, and Docquity, all of which won HackOsaka in consecutive years.