James Yenbamroong

Yenbamroong is opening in 2019 a venture capital unit to provide funds to startups and medium-sized companies working on artificial intelligence, robotics, space research and deep space exploration. The venture unit, with an initial fund of US$100 million, will be set up in Singapore.

Initially focused on the implementation of a satellite-powered broadband project in Thailand, the company under Yenbamroong, later on, started doing space-related activities. In July 2018, mu Space became the first Asian company to send a payload aboard the New Shepard rocket of Blue Origin to test the effects of microgravity on properties of materials. The payload included a silicon bleeding-prevention device used in hospitals, a carbon nanotube and a vacuum-sealed food product. In April 2019, Yenbamroong revealed that mu Space has submitted a proposal to NASA to build a lunar landing system.

Yenbamroong sent several engineers of mu Space to help in the rescue mission to save the 12 boys and their football coach trapped inside Tham Luang cave in 2018. His company mu Space also collaborated with Google and Weather Decision Technologies to provide rescuers with weather forecast models in the cave area.

In June 2017, Yenbamroong founded mu Space, a company based in Bangkok that offers satellite services, smart city solutions, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, of which he is CEO and lead design architect.

In June 2017, Yenbamroong founded mu Space and Advanced Technology, or mu Space, using his personal money. The company researches and develops satellite and smart city services for urban and rural areas. mu Space initially had 6 staff and later increased to 30 after the company raised US$3 million in funds.

In December 2017, Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission granted mu Space a 15-year license until 2032 to provide satellite services in the country. The company is temporarily using the satellites of another company SES to provide broadband services, pending the launch of the company's own satellite in 2021. Worth up to US$150 million, the satellite will use the 50.5-degrees East orbital slot to provide coverage over Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

While studying at the University of California Los Angeles, Yenbamroong worked as a system engineer for satellite projects at Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense technology company. He was later promoted as project lead for unmanned vehicle systems at Northrop. Yenbamroong left the US and moved back to Bangkok in 2014.

Yenbamroong later moved to the US and continued his secondary education at Beverly Hills High School. While studying, he played for the school's soccer team. His time in the US, which coincided with the boom of private space ventures, had influenced Yenbamroong's decision to pursue a university degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. He obtained his bachelor degree in 2008 from the University of California Los Angeles and his master degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 from the same university.

Born in 1984 and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, Yenbamroong moved to Waikato, New Zealand when he was 14 to attend Cambridge High School. He later lived in California, USA and finished his secondary education at Beverly Hills High School. He went to the University of California Los Angeles to earn his bachelor degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and his master degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Born on June 13, 1984 in Bangkok, Yenbamroong was the youngest among three siblings. He is the son of Vilas Yenbamroong, a Thai military general, and Lamaiporn Yenbamroong, a senior US embassy staff in Thailand. He is a cousin of award-winning chef Kris Yenbamroong, named Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chef in 2016 and author of the Night + Market cookbook.