Seraphim Space, the pioneering SpaceTech investment group, has announced the establishment of the Global Space Futures Advisory Council, a global space council created to address key strategic, commercial, and geopolitical opportunities and challenges facing the space sector.
Bringing together leading space specialists from across the global space ecosystem, the Advisory Council includes former astronauts, space entrepreneurs, senior investors, and policy leaders with experience spanning commercial space, national programmes, defence, climate science, and global communications.
The Council has been established to provide an internationally representative forum capable of shaping policy thinking and strengthening cross‑border collaboration as the global space sector continues to evolve rapidly, with space activity becoming increasingly strategic, commercial, and geopolitical.
Its work will centre on structural questions expected to shape the space sector over the coming decade. These include how space infrastructure intersects with national security and energy resilience; the expanding role of space‑derived data in climate monitoring, communications, and artificial intelligence; the emergence of a more clearly multipolar space economy; and the implications of rapid commercial expansion beyond Earth orbit for regulation, sustainability, and international cooperation.
A globally representative council
Chaired by satellite industry pioneer Candace Johnson, the Advisory Council brings together senior leaders whose careers span the foundational decades of commercial space through to today’s emerging SpaceTech landscape.
Short bios of initial members (full bios below):
- Anousheh Ansari – CEO, XPRIZE; first female private space explorer.
- Ann Winblad – Co‑founder and Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
- Candace Johnson – Co‑founder of SES and pioneer in global satellite communications.
- Marco Fuchs – CEO, OHB SE, a leading European satellite manufacturer.
- Masayasu Ishida – Co‑founder and CEO, SPACETIDE; Programme Director, Japan Space Strategy Fund.
- Pascale Ehrenfreund – President, COSPAR; Research Professor, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University.
- Rob Desborough – General Partner, Seraphim Space, and co‑founder of the Seraphim Space Accelerator.
To begin with, the Advisory Council will include 6 members appointed for a two‑year term, with its inaugural meeting planned for Wednesday, 15 April 2026, in Colorado Springs.
Discussions at the first meeting will centre on “The Next 10 Years of Space and SpaceTech Investment” — a decade widely seen as pivotal for the sector’s commercial, strategic and geopolitical trajectory. The Council will expand to around 10 leading global experts over the course of 2026.
Why now?
The space sector has recorded its strongest year on record. Investment reached $3.8bn in Q4 2025, bringing total funding over the past twelve months to $12.4bn, up from an annual investment of $1bn a decade ago. This reflects a structural shift in how governments, corporations, and financial institutions view space as a key investment asset class and an essential component of national and economic infrastructure.
Capital is increasingly concentrated in technologies underpinning communications resilience, defence and national security, critical infrastructure, climate and Earth observation, and datadriven services across multiple industries. At the same time, the acceleration of the global space sector brings new risks into sharper focus, from congestion and sustainability in orbit to supply chain concentration, regulatory fragmentation, and rising geopolitical tension.
Candace Johnson, Chair of the Seraphim Global Space Futures Advisory Council, said:
“Space now touches every continent, an expanding number of countries, and many of the world’s most critical sectors, from communications and energy to security, climate monitoring and economic development. We are witnessing the rapid emergence of a truly global and multipolar space economy at a moment when collaboration, governance and long‑term thinking matter more than ever.
This Council brings together globally representative talent spanning commercial space, science, policy, entrepreneurship and investment. Its role is not only to consider the scale of opportunity ahead, but to engage seriously with the complex challenges, from sustainability and regulation to security and international coordination — that will shape the next decade of space activity.”
Rob Desborough, Partner at Seraphim Space, said:
“The space sector has entered a fundamentally new phase. What was once a specialist domain has become critical infrastructure, underpinning communications, national security, climate intelligence and energy resilience. With that shift comes both extraordinary opportunity and a more complex set of risks that investors, governments and industry need to navigate together.
The Seraphim Global Space Futures Advisory Council has been created to help us look beyond individual investment cycles and think more structurally about where the global space economy is heading. By bringing together perspectives from across continents, disciplines and generations of space development, the Council will help inform our long‑term strategy as the sector becomes increasingly commercial, multipolar and geopolitically consequential.”
About Seraphim Space
Established in 2016, Seraphim Space has emerged as the world’s preeminent investment group dedicated exclusively to the SpaceTech sector. The firm has pioneered SpaceTech as a distinct investment category, launching both the world’s first private and public venture capital funds devoted to this field.
Since its inception, Seraphim has supported 149 companies spanning 33 countries, with its portfolio companies collectively raising more than £10 billion and nine achieving unicorn status. Seraphim’s ecosystem encompasses accelerators, dedicated venture funds, and the London Stock Exchange‑listed Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT), enabling support from seed stage through to late‑stage growth.
Full Biographies
Anousheh Ansari – Chief Executive Officer of XPRIZE and a globally recognised advocate for innovation and space exploration. Ansari was the first female private space explorer and the first Muslim woman to travel to space, and has since focused on scaling incentives based approaches to solving global challenges. Ansari serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Good Will Ambassador, Executive Board Member of the International Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of Jabil and Peace First, as well as other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment.
Ann Winblad – Ann Winblad is a pioneering software venture capitalist and technology entrepreneur. As co-founder and Managing Director of the first venture capital firm focused exclusively on software, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, she played a crucial role in shaping the global enterprise software landscape and supporting the growth of innovative technology companies. In her over 30-year career as a venture capitalist, Ann’s firm has led investments in over 160 enterprise software companies that launched successful companies across the enterprise software sector. One of the most widely respected software enterprise investors globally, Ms. Winblad has received numerous
Candace Johnson – Candace Johnson is one of the most influential pioneers in the commercial space era, having co-founded or co-created foundational ventures that opened entirely new markets for satellite communications, direct-to-home broadcasting, and global mobile connectivity. As co-founder of SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) she helped build Europe’s first privately financed, fully commercial satellite operator, pioneering the business model that made direct-to-home broadcasting ubiquitous across the continent. As Chief Architect of SES Global, she then laid the foundation for the company to spread its wings globally and develop as a satellite telecommunications operator serving civilian, military, Internet and broadcast markets. She founded Loral-Teleport Europe, Europe’s first private satellite communications network, and Europe Online, the world’s first Internet and satellite based online service. Her catalytic roles in Iridium and International Launch Services (ILS) came at key inflection points for global mobile connectivity and commercial launch access. Across four decades, Johnson has repeatedly advanced new paradigms in space entrepreneurship, investment, and governance, helping establish the ecosystem that supports today’s global space economy and blazing trails for women’s leadership in the industry.
Marco Fuchs – Marco Fuchs is one of Europe’s leading space entrepreneurs. Since becoming OHB’s CEO in 2000, he has grown what had been a small family business into a globally operating satellite manufacturer and a top 3 European space company, which is exchange listed. OHB SE won the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system tender, expanded its workforce to around 4,000 employees and achieved revenues exceeding €1 billion. Fuchs’ commitment to innovation has positioned him as a visionary leader and pioneer in the field.
Masayasu Ishida – Masa Ishida is a multi-sector space ecosystem leader based in Japan who bridges policy, industry, and technology to drive collective progress. As Co-founder and CEO of SPACETIDE, he leads cross-industry initiatives including Asia-Pacific’s leading commercial space conference since 2015. He also serves as Program Director of Japan’s Space Strategy Fund, directing a USD 7 billion national investment program that accelerates advanced technology development and industry growth. In addition, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Space Economy Executive Champions, a community of global leaders advancing collaboration across the international space sector.
Pascale Ehrenfreund – Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund is a senior leader in global space science and policy, currently serving as President of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and as a Research Professor at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. Over a career spanning three decades, she has played a pivotal role in European and US space programmes, contributing as a Principal Investigator, Co Investigator, and team leader to numerous ESA and NASA astronomy and planetary missions, as well as experiments conducted in low Earth orbit and aboard the International Space Station. She has also held several high-profile leadership roles across the international space community, the International Astronautical Federation, and is recognised among the Stanford Top 2% Scientists worldwide.
Rob Desborough – General Partner at Seraphim Space and co-founder of the Seraphim Space accelerator, heading up the early-stage investment arm of Seraphim Space. It is now recognised as the world’s leading programme for SpaceTech start-up programmes, having helped raise over $800m for companies to date. Overall, since its inception, Seraphim has supported 149 companies across its funds, spanning 33 countries, with its portfolio companies collectively raising more than £10 billion and nine achieving coveted unicorn status.
