Lewis Pinault Email & Phone Number

Menlo Park, Ca, Us

Developing and leading Airbus Ventures’ investments in Asia, aimed at the system elements boosting ascent to Z-Space, where we create new system value at each stage from ground to deep space. As our portfolio startups meet the interwoven challenges of Autonomy, Connectivity, Energy, Mobility and Security, they are set to free us from the constraints of gravity and bandwidth, releasing massive - and massively connected - system wealth. Trained as an MIT engineer and NASA geophysicist, I take special interest in science-driven startup opportunities that translate to systemic data-business advantages.

Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, Jp

After leading and securing Airbus Ventures' lead investment in Infostellar's $8 million Series A round, I'm delighted and energised to serve as a board director for this pioneering startup now paving the way to low-cost high-access deep space communications infrastructure. Infostellar seeks committed talented people ready to change the space industry today - and the way we communicate in space, forever. See https://www.infostellar.net/careers

Ota-Ku, Tokyo, Jp

With Airbus Ventures' lead in Telexistence's $8m+ Series A round, we’re particularly excited to see this brilliant convergence of all the strengths of the University of Tokyo’s Tachi Lab, the superbly relevant capabilities of our co-investors in telecom connectivity, AI and robotics, and above all the technical and entrepreneurial wherewithal represented by Telexistence’s founders and diverse, richly talented team. I'm honoured to join the board of a company pioneering the actual commercial deployment of a human/ robotic avatar capability, and look forward to promoting the many potential Telexistence applications throughout our Airbus mothership network.

Chippendale, New South Wales, Au

Q-CTRL offers advanced, intuitive and scalable quantum control engineering solutions - Making Quantum Technology Useful

London, Greater London, Gb

As a research scientist I focus on the Search for Extraterrestrial Artefacts (SETA) in the Solar System, developing Machine Learning and other detection systems for micron-scale traces of Non-Terrestrial Artefacts, as well as algorithms & search systems for detection of Earth spacecraft hardware in high-resolution satellite imagery including NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera data sets.I closely collaborate with the Tanpopo Astrobiology team at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, and as a member of the UK SETI Research Network, I work with leading UK academics to raise SETI awareness and advance the Science, Sociology, and Policy of First Contact.

Singapore, Sg

Transcelestial delivers next-generation Free Space Optics for last-mile connectivity, testing and deploying secure, fibre-like last-mile connectivity at a fraction of the deployment time and cost of fibre.

Palo Alto, California, Us

Now set for Growth stage opportunities, AtlasAI found its origins in Stanford’s Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence Lab, (https://www.atlasai.co/) and continues to simplify land-based analytics and prediction with the power of advanced AI applied to satellite imagery and data sets from other sensors. For an exciting example of some the latest research they're involved in, in state-of-the-art methods for satellite image generation and the first large-scale generative foundation model for satellite imagery, see https://samar-khanna.github.io/DiffusionSat/.

Menlo Park, California, Us

LeoLabs is the mapping platform for space - allowing No Surprises - as they secure safe and sustainable operations in Low Earth Orbit. With their network of ground-based, phased array radars, LeoLabs produces high-resolution data on objects in LEO, providing unparalleled support for industries that rely on satellite services.

London, England, Gb

The world's first Venture Fund dedicated to financing the growth of companies operating in the 'new space'​ ecosystem, Seraphim invest in companies that are transforming global industries through application, use and enhancement of satellite and drone enabled data. The Advisory Board dissolved with the successful public listing of Seraphim Capital's investment trust in July 2021.

Vienna, Virginia, Us

Leading Airbus Ventures due diligence work on Spire Global, thereafter I joined Spire on a concomitant year's assignment as corporate development director looking after their satellite data services business and product opportunities in ship- and aircraft-tracking, as well as in high-resolution weather prediction and precision geolocation services, particularly in Japan. Recently Spire opened its European headquarters in Luxembourg, and successfully closed its $70 million Series C round. Spire continues to look for exceptional people to join its fast-growing team: Challenge yourself, apply today! http://spire.com/careers/

Didcot, Oxfordshire,, Gb

Satellite Applications Catapult (the 'Space' Catapult) is one of a network of centres established by Innovate UK, the Government's research and innovation agency, to accelerate the take-up of emerging technologies and drive economic growth. A not for profit company, it provides facilities, platforms and expert knowledge to enable the translation of ideas from concept to market.As Space Innovations Advisor to the Catapult, I facilitated Big Ideas sessions and opportunities between the Catapult and small and large Aerospace companies, including Airbus Defence and Space. The Catapult also sponsored my service as Director of Lunar Missions Labs, helping set up an online collaboration platform crowdsourcing direct contributions to the Science, Mission, Education and Marketing teams of Lunar Mission One, a robotic drilling mission to the Moon. This work helped identify other instances where such a platform can be applied other Space and Catapult / Innovate UK collaborations.

London, Gb

Six month Fellowship serving as the Director of the Natural Environment Research Council's 2015 School for Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College

London, Gb

An initiative of the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board (now Innovate UK), the Digital Catapult set out to build Digital Platforms and Acceleration Capabilities for UK-based innovators to advance their ideas in ways that are faster, less risky and more successful. A key aim is driving engagement between small companies and large companies. To this end, as the Innovation Centre Director, I led and completed the site selection, construction procurement, and conceptual design & outfitting of its new world-class 20,000 sq.ft. facilities that opened Autumn 2014 in the burgeoning digital technology hub of Kings Cross & St Pancras rail stations.

London, Gb

As a Creative Innovation practice, Box Exchange was established to help clients discover and speed the value of Disruptive Technologies, mixing large technology corporates and startups and researchers over Open Innovation Platforms. A spin-out of Electronic Data Systems hosted at the London School of Economics while I was a Visiting Fellow there, Box's blend of science & technology expertise with organisational & behavioural insight set out to focus on Combinations of Disruptive Technologies and Convergence of Networks into New Communities - the Impact-Multipliers dramatically altering the landscape and boundaries of business and society.Box clients were distinctively explorers, seeking early understanding and new opportunities arising from significant emergent patterns. From organising diversely networked Future Energy research teams, to applying Behavioural Economics to social mobilisation for climate change, Box achieved early and major successes in helping to identify, design, and facilitate the skills, tools and partnerships required for both corporates and startups to master the innovation opportunities of complex systems.

West Hartford, Us

I came to EDS (today DXC.technology, from the merger of HP Enterprise Services and Computer Sciences Corporation) with the mandate to help build a ‘new consulting model’ to bring clients through new processes of innovation and discovery. With government services forming the company’s core client base, it became a key opportunity to tie research and innovation to mandates for academic-to-business knowledge transfer. After a series of successes with both private and public sector clients, by 2004 I had secured major funding to build a new global innovation centre for the company, tied to specific research streams at the London School of Economics. EDS ‘BOX’ was conceived as a more effective and collaborative client engagement model, to deepen the company’s innovation and external partnering capabilities. BOX helped close and deliver on landmark clients, and its achievements were credited as ultimately key to EDS'​ successful acquisition by Hewlett Packard.

Washington, Dc, Us

NASA Space Grant Fellow at the University of Hawaii, emphasis on management and organisation science for research-led organisations. Applying principles and precedent from the laws of the oceans and outer space to Internet-technology related issues of intellectual property, privacy and liability. This three-year programme combined International Public Law and Planetary Geophysics; in the course of it I worked as a NASA contractor on asteroid materials and their mining potential, and completed projects on earth remote sensing for disaster risk reduction for the Asia-Pacific region. NASA and Space Generation delegate to the Third UN Conference on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Vienna 1999.Also my dotcom years! Consulting for Proxicom (acquired by Dimension Data in 2001), leading consumer-driven assessments and solutions for B2B implementations. Developed DiData’s 'Networked Economy Corporation'​ concept into a practical sequenced framework tool for integrating DiData reference architecture, solution sets, partner prototypes and offerings.Research-Practitioner with the Lego Foundation-sponsored Imagination Lab in Lausanne, developing hands-on methods using Lego bricks for building individual and team identity, role play scenarios, and competitive landscape construction that we would later advance into Box’s pioneering 3D Innovation methods. In later years while at EDS and Box I would help build and execute licensing models for 'Lego Serious Play'​, and become a member of Lego's LSP Partner Council. This would culminate in my concurrently becoming a senior director at Lego in 2008 and my leading a short-lived joint venture attempt, aimed at using LSP in combination with Lego's intuitively powerful on-line children's game, for business applications.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

Industrial partnering for financial institutions, diversified conglomerates and startup companies.

Paris, France, Fr

Tokyo office manager and later subcontractor for Southeast Asia region. Major consumer electronics and heavy industry engagements.

Boston, Massachusetts, Us

M&A, High Technology and Operational Effectiveness Practices in Tokyo and Boston. Merger & Acquisition work for Japanese and US consumer, retail and financial institutions.

Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Jp

Nihon Kokan (now JFE Holdings) Kawasaki Shipyard engineering advisor, for minesweeping and Antarctic research vessels, including final commissioning work for the accomplished icebreaker Shirase AGB 5002. Extensive work assisting design, safety and construction for LNG carriers, offshore oil rigs and major pipeline projects. Later as an analyst for NKK's Corporate Planning department, I facilitated JV’s for underwater robotics, subsea mining, and subsea tunnel construction. Advised and recommended international diversification investments for engineering divisions, leading to joint venture work in the US and Europe; in conjunction with with these investment strategies I became a Professional Associate at the East West Center, Honolulu Hawaii.

Science Bachelor, Un Scholar, Political Science, Ocean Engineering, Far East Studies

Msc, Sea-Use Law, Fulbright Scholar

Juris Doctorate, Nasa Space Grant Fellow, International Public Law And Planetary Geophysics

Phd Candidate, Geology