Lorenzo Thione

Lorenzo Thione is a serial entrepreneur, artificial intelligence expert, investor, Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion whose career spans the worlds of technology, venture capital and the arts.

He is a managing director at Gaingels, one of the most active private investment networks in North America, where he leads the firm’s AI investment strategy and works to elevate underrepresented founders. Thione is also a co-founding chairman of StartOut, an organization dedicated to fostering LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship.

Thione began his career as an AI researcher and technologist at FXPAL/PARC before co-founding Powerset, one of the first companies to develop AI-powered web search technology. Powerset was acquired by Microsoft in 2008 and became part of the launch of Bing.

In addition to his work in technology, Thione is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer whose credits include “Hadestown,” “The Inheritance” and “Allegiance,” a musical he co-created starring George Takei and Lea Salonga. His creative work centers on storytelling as a tool for representation, empathy and progress.

A frequent keynote speaker and advisor to AI startups, Thione is a vocal advocate for the responsible and inclusive development of artificial intelligence and a champion of diversity in innovation. He has been recognized as one of the most influential LGBTQ+ people in tech by Business Insider.

Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Thione holds a Master of Science in computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.