SKY Leasing announces acquisition of JetBlue Ventures

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK – SKY Leasing, a leading aviation investment manager, and JetBlue Airways announced that SKY has acquired JetBlue Ventures, JetBlue’s venture capital subsidiary. This transaction will usher in the next era of growth for JetBlue Ventures, with expanded opportunities to support founders and scale game-changing technologies by leveraging SKY’s deep industry relationships, global reach, and access to capital. JetBlue will continue to serve as a strategic partner to JetBlue Ventures and its portfolio companies.

“We are thrilled to welcome JetBlue Ventures into the SKY family,” said Matthew Crawford, Co-Chief Investment Officer at SKY. “Through our aviation partnerships around the world, we are witnessing firsthand 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.”

“We founded JetBlue Ventures to invest in, incubate, and partner with early-stage startups that would shape the future of travel, and by all measures it’s been an incredible success,” said Joanna Geraghty, chief executive officer, JetBlue. “As we look at the needs of our airline today, we are fully focused on our JetForward strategy to get JetBlue back to profitability and set us up for long-term success as we compete against the legacy carriers. This transaction enables us to focus on our core airline operations, while maintaining our access to the innovations and opportunities of current and future portfolio companies through our ongoing strategic partnership with JetBlue Ventures.”

Since its founding in 2016, JetBlue Ventures has invested in 55 early-stage startups and made over 40 follow-on investments, resulting in eight exits in the form of acquisitions and public offerings. The JetBlue Ventures team, which will continue to be led by Amy Burr, will remain focused on investing in emerging enterprise technology and frontier tech solutions across the travel and transportation ecosystem.

JetBlue Ventures will continue to manage all current and future investments, with JetBlue continuing to hold positions in all existing portfolio companies. The JetBlue Ventures brand will remain as part of a brand licensing agreement with JetBlue. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel for SKY, Cooley LLP served as legal counsel for JetBlue, and DJL Corporate Law, PC served as legal counsel for JetBlue Ventures.