Guillermo Söhnlein (born May 18, 1966) is an Argentine-American businessman, best known as the co-founder of deep-sea exploration company OceanGate. Söhnlein left the company in 2013, retaining a minority stake.[1][2]
Guillermo Söhnlein | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 18 May 1966 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley University of California Hastings College of the Law |
| Occupation | Social entrepreneur |
| Known for | co-founder of OceanGate |
Professional career
In 1998, Söhnlein co-founded Milo, a speech recognition technology company that was acquired by Voxeo[3] in 2001.
After relocating to the Northern Virginia region outside Washington, D.C., he worked with a number of technology startup ventures,[4][5][6] and advised several technology-related investment groups, incubators, and economic development agencies,[7][8] and gave frequent talks about the field.[9][10]
Space commercialization ventures
In 2003, Söhnlein founded the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs (IASE), which was a nonprofit organization created to encourage successful entrepreneurs from other industries to start aerospace-related ventures and start-ups.[11][12] The group grew from 5 people to almost 1,500 individuals around the world.[13] In 2010, the online community was transferred to the Space Frontier Foundation for ongoing growth, and IASE officially disbanded.[14]
In 2006, he founded Space Angels Network, a for-profit angel investor group for early-stage aerospace ventures.[13][15]
Venusian colony project
Söhnlein founded the Humans2Venus Foundation in January 2020[16] with entrepreneur Khalid Al-Ali.[17]
SFF planned sending thousands people above floating city on Venus around 2050.[18][19][20] Söhnlein explained to The Independent "that [Venus's] inhospitable surface, which is around 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius), should not be an issue if humans simply build a home 50km in its air where conditions are reportedly similar to those on the Earth."[16]
Ocean exploration ventures
In 2009, Söhnlein co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush, a venture that provided deep-sea crewed submersibles.[21]
In 2010, he re-launched the Ocean Exploration Committee of the Marine Technology Society, a nonprofit membership association supporting students and industry professionals in marine-related fields.[22]
In 2013, he founded Blue Marble Exploration, which organized high-profile expeditions to explore the oceans in crewed submersibles.
Sea-Space Connections
In 2011, Söhnlein founded the Sea-Space Initiative, a global project to provide collaboration in ocean and space industries.[23] The first program, launched in May 2012, is the Sea-Space Summit, a global series of invitation-only workshops.[24][25]