Yamamoto Will Leverage His Experience in Market Development and Business Growth to Further Establish and Grow Dating Services Across Japan

(Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Ryoma Yamamoto) Eureka Inc., operator of Pairs, one of Japan's leading dating apps, announced the appointment of Ryoma Yamamoto as its new CEO and Representative Director, effective April 3, 2023. He will be based in Tokyo, and report to Match Group Asia CEO Malgosia Green. 

After working at McKinsey & Company for more than 10 years, Yamamoto contributed to the explosion of mobile payments in Japan as the business head of Apple Pay's Japan launch at Apple Japan. Later, he served as the Japan representative for foreign startups OYO and DoorDash. He has extensive experience and achievements in technology-enabled new business launches, business growth, and business transformation in global companies.

Eureka is owned by Match Group, a leading provider through its portfolio of companies of digital technologies designed to help people make meaningful connections. Yamamoto will work closely with Match Group leadership to make efficient and swift management decisions, leverage the company’s knowledge on international expansion and growth, and work to better establish dating services as a social norm across Japan.

Former CEO Junya Ishibashi will step down as CEO following Yamamoto's appointment, and will continue to advise Eureka and Pairs.

Comments From Ryoma Yamamoto

I am incredibly excited to be joining Eureka at a pivotal moment for the technology category in Japan. There is tremendous opportunity for growth in the dating app industry, and I embrace the challenge of building world-class user experiences in dating that serve the needs of the millions of singles in the Japanese market. I look forward to working with the Eureka team and Match Group to steer our apps and the overall category towards further growth.

Comments From Malgosia Green, CEO of Match Group Asia

Ryoma is a strong and charismatic leader with a proven track record and I feel confident in his ability to take growth at Eureka to new heights. As the owner of one of the country’s leading dating apps, Eureka is in a unique position to influence the ways that people meet, develop relationships, and form marriages and families.

Junya Ishibashi has been instrumental in the growth of Match Group and Pairs in Japan for over a decade. During the time he spent as CEO of Eureka and General Manager of Match Group East Asia, over 700,000 people met their partners on Pairs. We are grateful for Junya’s tenure and are fortunate to have him continue as an advisor to the company. 

Comments from Junya Ishibashi

I have been with Eureka for 10 years and CEO for seven years and have been committed to the growth of Eureka and Pairs. I am happy to have been able to provide so many people with the opportunity to meet their life partners through Pairs. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the wonderful team and all of our business partners who have made it all possible. I will continue to support Mr. Yamamoto, our new leader, as he takes on new opportunities.

About Ryoma Yamamoto

Ryoma Yamamoto is the Chief Executive Officer of Eureka Inc. He brings to the role vast experience growing Japanese subsidiaries of globally expanding technology companies. Before joining Match Group, Yamamoto served as the president of OYO Japan, a real estate tech company from India, and as the representative of DoorDash Japan, a food delivery service in the U.S. Prior to these roles, Yamamoto joined Apple Japan in 2016 as a founding member and business head of Apple Pay in Japan, where he contributed to the explosion of mobile payments in Japan. He started his career with McKinsey & Company, where he spent 10+ years working in the Tokyo, New York, Dubai, and Shanghai offices solving numerous management issues and growing businesses, mainly in the technology and financial sectors. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Kyoto University.