Speaker: The View from Venture Capital: Finding a Unicorn in the Haystack

Chris is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Data Collective VC, a boutique investment firm specializing in hard, data-driven science and engineering companies.

Chris is the co-founder of Planet Labs, a company providing unprecedented daily, global mapping of our changing planet from space. As the company’s CTO for 5 years he took the company from the drawing board to having launched more satellites into space than any other company in history, completely transforming the space industry along the way. Fundamental to Chris’s approach is a dedicated investment in people, especially youth and recent graduates, to create a powerful, connected global workforce capable of achieving anything.

Chris was previously a Space Mission Architect at NASA Ames Research Center. After working on a number of traditional spacecraft programs at NASA, Chris co-created Phonesat, a spacecraft built solely out of a regular smart phone. The cost was so low, and the concept so simple, that space exploration is now within grasp of the everyday person, and many other groups around the world are pursuing their own low-cost space programs as a consequence.

Whilst also at NASA, he established Singularity University, a school for studying the consequences of accelerating technological development. Initially fulfilling the role of Interim Director, Chris helped raise over $2.5 million to establish the university, assembling the faculty and serving as co-chair for the University’s Department of Space and Sciences.

Chris received his Ph.D. in Physics and BSc. with honours from the University of Sydney, and was award Advance Global Australian of the Year in 2014.