# Tomofumi Nakata

> Tomofumi Nakata, also known as Tom Nakata, is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of Qlay. A Harvard statistics graduate and former McKinsey consultant in Tokyo and Los Angeles, he co-founded the company with Tokumasa Yamashita. Qlay progressed from generative-AI consumer research to engineering recruitment and remote interview proctoring.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Qlay
- **Organizations:** Qlay Technologies, Inc., McKinsey & Company
- **Education:** B.A. in Statistics, Harvard College
- **Known for:** Co-founded Qlay Technologies., Led Qlay when it won the January 2024 XLIMIT audience award., Qlay announced $1.4 million in pre-seed financing in August 2025.

## Career timeline

- **2019** — Graduated from Harvard College; studied statistics and researched movie box-office prediction.
- **Before 2023; exact dates unverified** — Worked at McKinsey in Tokyo and Los Angeles on consumer-company strategy.
- **2023-10** — Co-founded Qlay with Tokumasa Yamashita; initial focus was generative-AI consumer research.
- **2024-01** — Qlay received the XLIMIT second-batch Demo Day audience award on January 11.
- **2024-11** — Presented Qlay at Japan-Korea Startup Founder's Day in Palo Alto.
- **Late 2024** — Publicly presented Qlay's engineering sourcing, screening and shortlisting service at 500 Global.
- **2025-08** — Qlay announced a $1.4 million pre-seed round for AI recruitment solutions.
- **2026-01** — Demonstrated Qlay's interview proctoring around CES in Las Vegas.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Qlay Technologies.
- Led Qlay when it won the January 2024 XLIMIT audience award.
- Qlay announced $1.4 million in pre-seed financing in August 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Qlay posted about exhibiting its interview proctoring product at 4YFN in Barcelona.
- **2026-01** — Nakata presented Qlay's interview proctoring around CES; a journalist described his video demonstration.
- **2025-08** — Qlay announced $1.4 million in pre-seed funding.

## Links

- Website: https://qlay.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tnakata

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/tomofumi-nakata
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-12