JetBlue Ventures CEO on acquisition by Sky Leasing
With about a week having passed since US carrier JetBlue revealed that Sky Leasing had acquired its venture capital subsidiary, JetBlue Ventures, we caught up with CEO Amy Burr.
The deal, which is being heralded as the catalyst for the next “era of growth” for JetBlue Ventures, will see the company become a dedicated venture fund under long-time partner Sky Leasing.
Its former parent, JetBlue, will continue to serve as a strategic partner and its portfolio companies. Whilst JetBlue Ventures will continue to manage all current and future investments, with JetBlue retaining positions in all existing portfolio companies. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to Burr (pictured below), the “win-win” transaction expands JetBlue Ventures’ ability to support founders and scale technologies.
“Sky’s extensive aviation relationships will help strengthen our industry engagement and unlock new commercial partners and resources,” she told us. “With Sky’s global footprint, our portfolio companies will gain access to markets and visibility across Europe, Asia and South America. As a dedicated venture fund under Sky, we’ll also have access to outside capital and accelerate our ability to replicate success stories.”
Since its founding in 2016, JetBlue Ventures has invested in 55 early-stage start-ups and made over 40 follow-on investments, resulting in eight exits via acquisitions and public offerings.
“Over the past nine years, we’ve evolved our investment focus to keep pace with the aviation industry’s shifting needs and emerging technologies,” said Burr. “Our portfolio includes solutions that enhance the customer experience, improve maintenance and operations and advance sustainability.”
In recent years, Burr explained how JetBlue Ventures has placed greater emphasis on enabling technologies such as AI for predictive operations, data infrastructure and innovations in security and cybersecurity. “We’re excited to see how the industry continues to evolve and to continue our work in supporting founders building the next big thing.
“We will continue to focus on investing in early-stage start-ups improving the travel and transportation ecosystem, with a focus on enterprise and frontier technologies,” she added.
When asked what in aerospace innovation JetBlue Ventures is most excited about today, Burr said: “We are seeing great strides in various companies tackling alternative propulsion systems in the hybrid-electric space. The first generation of eVTOLs will also be launching for customers within the next year or two, which is exciting to see.”
The company is also seeing opportunities in the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) sector, according to Burr. “While the climate tech space is in a challenging funding position right now, there are a lot of fantastic companies creating SAF for the industry via various techniques that will start to ramp up over the next few years.” To date, JetBlue Ventures has most notably invested in SAF firms Air Company, Aether Fuels and Avnos.
On the acquisition, Matthew Crawford, co-chief investment officer at Sky, said: “Through our aviation partnerships around the world, we are witnessing first-hand the rapid advancements and innovations in the travel industry, and as a long-term partner to JetBlue, we have consistently admired JetBlue Ventures’ track record of nurturing these groundbreaking technologies. This transaction is a natural evolution of our partnership and will provide us, our investors and our global aviation partners with direct access to the cutting-edge innovations and technologies shaping the future of travel.”
Subscribe to our free newsletter
For more deep dives from SAF Investor, subscribe to our email newsletter.
