Illustration by: @SAE_ggnk
AnotherBall (Representative Director and CEO: Shunsuke Oyu) is pleased to announce that Kiral Poon has newly joined the company as VP of R&D.
■ Background
AnotherBall operates under a core belief of "simultaneously building multiple ventures that accelerate Japan's innate 'Power of Imagination' (Mousooryoku)." To realize this vision of concurrent venture creation, we recognized the need for a leader capable of spearheading both new business launches and technology R&D.
Kiral Poon is a technology executive who served as a board director and CTO at an 80-person Japanese XR company, where he balanced technology strategy with business management. In addition to leading end-to-end development of XR content leveraging major IPs such as Attack on Titan, Sanrio, and Hatsune Miku, he also headed a foreign subsidiary as its President, managing local operations on the ground. His international sensibility — fluent in English, Japanese, and Chinese — combined with his broad technical range spanning robotics, AI, XR, and metaverse, aligns precisely with AnotherBall's strategic direction of "Entertainment × Technology × Global." We are confident he is the ideal addition to our team.
■ Kiral Poon — Career & Achievements
Graduated from the University of Manitoba in Electrical and Computer Engineering, with minors in Economics and Marketing, and also earned an Honours degree in Computer Science as part of his double degree. Fluent in English, Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese). Has more than 10 years of experience across XR, the metaverse, AI, and IoT.
Since 2018, he has been with Gugenka Inc. (which became a Sanrio subsidiary in July 2025), where he served as Director, CTO, and XR Technical Director. Together with the company's representative, he helped lead the organization's growth from its early stage to around 80 employees. At the same time, as Representative Director of the overseas subsidiary Gugenka Manila Studio, he led local management, recruitment, legal and financial management, and partnerships in the Philippines.
As Technical Director, he consistently led the planning, development, direction, operations, and international liaison functions for XR content based on some of Japan's most prominent IP.
Key Projects as Gugenka CTO
- SANRIO Virtual Fes in Sanrio Puroland (2021–) — Technical Director of one of the world's largest metaverse music festivals. Achieved the world's first implementation of technology that enabled real artists to appear inside VR space on VRChat, while also overseeing the full technical scope including design and development of the official ticketing system, resolution of synchronization issues in staging, and livestream architecture design. In addition, led VRChat system integration, coordination with the VRChat support team, and VRChat agreement coordination.
https://cgworld.jp/magazine/cgw284.html - Attack on Titan Beast Titan Battle Hexaride — Technical development and production of an immersive XR attraction
- Slayers 30th Anniversary 3D Live (2021) — Directed the project including groundbreaking HDRP technology implementation, motion capture, camera work, and stage production
- Taito "Space Cube" (Space Invader) — Arcade game director
- Hatsune Miku Real × Virtual linked "MIKU COLLECTION" event — Led new filming technologies and served as Technical Director
Key Achievements Prior to Gugenka
- Senior AI Engineer, Sightline Innovation (2016–2018): Developed LiDAR + AI floor flatness assessment systems for construction, automotive parts/paint inspection AI, and AR radiation detection app for military applications
- Sentinel Entertainment CEO (2014–2016): Oversaw management as CEO of an entertainment company
- University Lecturer & Researcher (2011–2016): Engaged in education and research in robotics, IoT, and medical fields, while also conducting research activities at National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan)
- Manitoba Hydro Software Developer (2011–2013)
- RoboCup World Competition — Team Canada Representative, 2nd Place in Technology (2015)
- Canadian Satellite Design Challenge — 2nd Place (2012): CubeSat design and fabrication as one of the leaders at the University of Manitoba team
Selected Speaking Engagements
AI Connect 2026, XR Nights 2025, GDC 2024 Report Session, Otakon 2022 (Washington, D.C., USA), CEDEC 2022, VIVECON Japan 2021, XRKaigi 2020, and many more
■ Comment from Kiral Poon
I am deeply grateful for the time I spent walking this path together with the representative at Gugenka since coming to Japan from Canada. Thanks to the teamwork of Gugenka's representative, my colleagues, and the people at our partner IP companies, I had the opportunity to create many works and products and witness users being moved time and again. Each time, I felt genuinely happy from the bottom of my heart.
At Gugenka, over the course of eight years as Executive Director and CTO, I worked on XR content development for anime IP while also being involved in the management of the overseas base in the Philippines, and together with the representative, I worked toward growing the organization to a scale of around 80 people. Every part of that journey was a major and irreplaceable experience for me.
What I felt throughout that time was that while content created by Japanese creators has enormous potential to excite the world, the management perspective, product design, technology foundation, promotion, and operations needed to deliver it globally are still not yet fully in place. I believe there is still a great deal of potential remaining there.
AnotherBall's idea of what it calls "imagination power" — the free worlds and stories inside creators' minds — and of accelerating that through technology and delivering it to the world is exactly the theme I have pursued throughout my career. I want to pour all of the experience I have cultivated in AI, XR, and the metaverse, along with my experience in leading multinational teams, into taking on AnotherBall's challenge with everything I have.
I also understand that "the only thing I know is that I know nothing." I hope to discuss, learn together with everyone, and create new values. My strength may be modest, but I sincerely hope to help bring Japan's wonderful culture and content to the world.
■ Comment from Shunsuke Oyu, CEO
When I first heard about Kiral's background, I was honestly surprised and wondered, "Does someone with a career like this really exist?" He built satellites and robots in Canada, sharpened his skills as an AI engineer in construction, manufacturing, and military environments, and after coming to Japan led an organization of 80 people as technical director for projects such as Attack on Titan and Sanrio Virtual Fes. It is extremely rare to see technology, business management, and global operations all combined in one person.
The JPY 2.5 billion financing we announced recently was supported by Japan's leading financial institutions in a true "All Japan" effort. Kiral joining the team represents a major strengthening of our ability to turn that support into real business outcomes.
With AnotherBall's belief of "challenging the world with Japan's imagination power," we look forward to delivering products that surprise the world together with Kiral.
Company Overview
- Company Name: AnotherBall Pte. Ltd. / AnotherBall Inc.
- Locations: Singapore / Japan
- Representative: CEO, Shunsuke Oyu
- Business: Development and operation of the VTuber platform "Avvy," and related businesses
- URL: https://anotherball.com/
