About Us
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What we do
It’s simple. We invest in and partner with early-stage startups improving the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. We’ve taken JetBlue’s original mission to bring humanity back to travel and are expanding it on an unprecedented scale – we want to improve the end-to-end experience for travelers everywhere, whether they’re flying or not. And we believe that partnering with game-changing technology companies is a great way to do it.
Why we excel
As you’d expect, we have a deep expertise in aviation, but our team also specializes in hospitality, regional and ground transportation, and more. In short, we’re travel geeks and could spend hours talking your ear off about the latest developments in predictive maintenance, machine learning, and electric propulsion for the industry. Combine that with our focus on helping turn good startups into great ones, and you’ve got our recipe for success.
How we help
Of course, we provide funding to promising startups, but we do so much more than that. We give steady guidance, make connections to industry power players, provide proof-of-concept opportunities, and, in some cases, incubate startups in our own Silicon Valley office.
What’s next
Some of the companies we work with are disrupting travel for the better. Others might take a few more years to make their vision a reality, but it’ll be worth the wait. As travel industry veterans and venture capitalists, we know the value of looking beyond the horizon. You just can’t beat the view. So tell us, how can we help you?
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
We’re the venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways. Our mission is to invest in and partner with early stage technology startups improving the future of travel, transportation, and hospitality. Our team includes venture capital pros and travel industry veterans. You can learn more about our passions here and more about our people here.
We’ve seen some really incredible companies, and the number keeps on growing. You can check out our portfolio companies here. Think your startup has what it takes? Apply here!
When we identify a company with the potential to transform the travel industry, we want to come in early enough to support the founders in a meaningful way. We typically invest in early stage startups that are between seed and series B. That said, if your brilliant idea is further along the track, we still want to hear from you.
We’re looking for technologies that can disrupt the whole travel industry – not just airlines. When we choose to invest in a startup, we certainly consider whether it would provide strategic value for JetBlue Airways, but we’re also interested in whether the company can enhance travel and hospitality as a whole.
While we do invest in startups internationally, one of the benefits of working with us is that we try to be hands-on and like to support our portfolio companies by offering guidance, resources, and real-time feedback and connections. That could become slightly more complicated if you’re on the other side of the globe, but for great ideas and great founders, we will travel anywhere.
We’re interested in companies that align with at least one of our five investment themes. For us, people matter – we like to say it’s more about the who than the what. We’re excited to work with innovative, passionate folks who are brilliant at what they do and who want to make a difference in the world.
We care more about how companies are going to make an impact, rather than when. As a strategic investor, we don’t require an exit on a set timeline – our main focus is to help support you and your mission. When we invest, we classify companies as belonging to one of three impact horizons – 0 to 18 months, two to five years, and seven to ten years. Most of our investments fall into the first two categories, but we’re certainly open to disruptive “moonshot” technologies that may take up to a decade to come to fruition.
Yes! We are proud to be a strategic partner for all of our investments. We offer guidance from our experienced and travel industry-savvy team, including customer introductions and connections both at JetBlue and across the travel industry as well as with other venture capital firms. We also provide communications and marketing counsel as well as mentorship and other business development support. Additionally, as applicable, select companies can be incubated in our Silicon Valley office.
We want our portfolio companies to secure funding and build relationships that make sense for them. We actively introduce them to key players throughout the travel industry and are happy to partner with both venture capital firms and fellow corporate venture capital funds. When it comes to our support, the sky is the limit!