Guillermo Söhnlein Keynote Speaker

Guillermo Söhnlein is an American social entrepreneur with special interests in the commercialisation of outer space, the exploration of the world’s oceans, and the global connections between space and ocean industries. In 2013, he founded his two latest ventures, Blue Marble Exploration, which organises high-profile expeditions to explore “extreme environments”, and Nuon Ventures, a venture capital firm which invests in technologies that lay the foundation for humanity’s future.

In 2003, Guillermo founded the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs (IASE), a non-profit organisation specifically created to encourage successful entrepreneurs from other industries to start new aerospace-related ventures. In 2006, he founded Space Angels Network, a for-profit angel investor group specifically created to fill a gap in the capital markets for early-stage aerospace venture. Founding members included Esther Dyson, Stephen Fleming, David S. Rose, and Ed Tuck, who were specifically invited because of their proven track record of active angel investing in aerospace-related start-ups and their personal commitment to growing a national network of like-minded investors.

In 2009, Guillermo is co-founded OceanGate, Inc., an ocean exploration venture that provides deep-sea manned submersibles solutions to clients in academic and research institutions, commercial enterprises, content producing entities, government agencies and non-government organisations. He is also a co-founder of the OceanGate Foundation (now ExploreOcean), a non-profit organisation that uses manned submersibles to fulfil its mission of “inspiration through exploration.”

In 2011, Guillermo founded the Sea-Space Initiative, a global project to provide collaboration among various fields within ocean and space industries. The project focuses on four general categories: Exploration & Research; Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Education & Training; and Communication & Collaboration. Their global series of invitation-only workshops bring together small groups of visionary leaders from various fields for interdisciplinary discussions and strategic planning.