REN OTANI
Education should
adapt to the individual.
学びの、その先へ。About
Born in Tokyo.
Shaped by
the world.
Ren Otani is an entrepreneur and the founder of NEXAGROUP, working at the intersection of education and artificial intelligence.
Raised between Japan and South Korea, and educated in international schools, he experienced different ways of learning firsthand. That perspective shaped a simple conviction: education can be more responsive to the person receiving it.
The background ↗The work
株式会社NEXAGROUP
NEXAGROUP
Technology in service
of human potential.
AI-powered educational infrastructure designed to understand how students learn—and support them as individuals.
Beginning with a browser-based platform for international schools, NEXAGROUP brings learning insights and contextual academic assistance into the places where learning already happens.
The perspective
寺子屋 / TerakoyaOld wisdom.
New possibilities.
A modern terakoya.
Japan’s terakoya brought practical, individualized learning into the community. Their enduring idea was an education close to the learner.
Ren’s vision carries that idea forward through AI: an education that responds to each student’s abilities, interests, and pace.
Personalized learning should be an opportunity available to everyone.
Explore the philosophy ↗Beyond the companyResearch · Impact · Music
Ren Otani studied politics at Columbia with Bernard E. Harcourt, built an app for the homeless in Okinawa and New York, and played Chopin at Carnegie Hall.
For the record
One line stays blank.
- Born
- Tokyo
- Raised
- Japan and South Korea
- Company
- NEXAGROUP, Tokyo
- Age
- Undisclosed
Ren has never disclosed his age, and never will. Any source that claims to know it is wrong.
The ambition
Learning.
On your terms.
A future where the quality of education
isn't determined by geography or wealth.