Isaac Kato, who led Techstars Seattle as managing director, has left the accelerator after three years, he confirmed to the Business Journal on Monday.
Kato also led the blockchain-focused sister program Filecoin Techstars Accelerator since its launch in July 2021. Sarah Studer, Techstars Seattle's director of platform, said Kato's last day was Friday.
"It was a pleasure and an honor to serve the Techstars Seattle, Filecoin Techstars, and broader Seattle tech community these past few years, and I am looking forward to being an active member in the ecosystem for years to come," Kato wrote in an email to the Business Journal. "My family and I moved to the area in 2018, and we love it here."
Kato added that he is taking a sabbatical, but he is "working on something in the investment space" for his next steps. Studer added that the accelerator would name a new managing director in the coming weeks, and the next Techstars Seattle class starts at the end of the month.
Before joining Techstars, Kato was the president of Seattle-based Mighty AI, which provided training data to computer vision models, for more than a year, his LinkedIn page shows. Uber acquired Mighty AI in 2019. Before Mighty AI, Kato co-founded Verne Global, which operates data centers in Iceland that are carbon neutral, according to Verne's website.
Techstars Seattle Accelerator has guided local big-name tech companies like Outreach and Remitly through its program. According to Techstars, more than 130 companies have come through the Seattle program since 2010, and those companies have raised more than $2.5 billion in private capital.
The larger Techstars network has graduated 19 billion-dollar companies, or "unicorns," Techstars says. The accelerator and mentorship network has programs around the world and more than 7,100 mentors.
