Fly High, the sky's the limit!

Corporate play in the aircraft / airline industry

Are airlines investing in startups?

Here are the most active corporate venture arms in Air Travel.

Congratulations to ANA on getting in the game with their first VC fund just launched in April!

Focus: Airbus Ventures invests in start-ups working to advance aerospace solutions on a variety of topics, from autonomy to industrial efficiency. Topics for investment: Autonomy, Electrification, Industrial Efficiency, Materials, New Space, Security

Sweet Spot:  Seed to Series B/C

Investment Activity:

Offices: Leiden, The Netherlands

Focus: JetBlue invests in and partners with early-stage startups improving the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. They invest in: 

• Seamless customer journeys, 

• Reimagining the accommodation experience

• Next-Generation aviation operations and enterprise Tech,

• Innovation in loyalty, distribution, and revenue technologies that personalize and diversify commerce, simplify payments, and improve revenue opportunities.

•  Sustainable Travel

Sweet Spot:   Seed to Series A

Investment Activity:

Offices: San Carlos, United States

Focus: United Airlines Ventures is a fund that allows to invest in companies who share their vision for the future. Improving travel by funding work on new technologies and solutions, while also supporting sustainability, aerospace and tech start-ups.

Fund start-ups working to do things like decarbonize air travel, develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), build new planes more sustainably, and innovate through new technology.

Sweet Spot:   Seed to Series B

Investment Activity:

Offices: Bethesda, United States

Focus: Next-generation mobility, which includes air mobility, MaaS platform, Universal MaaS, drones and space. Customer base utilization businesses such as Fintech, data analytics and NFT. Carbon neutral fuels such as SAF, negative emission technologies like DAC, green energy and carbon offsets. In addition, innovations in aviation services and operations, such as robotics, AI and self-driving technologies, are being explored.

Sweet Spot: Early Stage

Investment Region: Worldwide 60% in Japan/ 40% overseas

Offices: Tokyo, Japan