Motoaki Sumi

Motoaki Sumi is a Japan-born entrepreneur based in the UK who co-founded Ascension in 2024 alongside Oxford geoscientists Professor Jon Blundy and Professor Mike Kendall. Before turning to deep tech, he held operating roles at Mitsubishi Corporation, Bloom Energy and electric vehicle maker Arrival, with a focus on energy and battery technology.

He joined Oxford Science Enterprises as an Entrepreneur in Residence in deep tech, where he worked on commercialising research from the University of Oxford in climate, energy and battery storage. Ascension emerged from that work, pairing his commercial background with the Oxford research base on volcanic geochemistry. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master's in Development Economics from SOAS and a Master's in Economics from the University of Edinburgh.

As Co-Founder and CEO of Ascension, Sumi leads a team developing geothermal-based extraction of critical minerals from underground volcanic rock — an alternative to conventional rare earth mining. In April 2026, the company raised £1.7 million in a seed round backed by UKI2S, Oxford Science Enterprises, East X and an Innovate UK Growth Catalyst grant.