Boeing Announces Venture to Expand Reach in Space, Mobility, and Connectivity

Boeing has announced plans to create an independent venture capital group, AEI HorizonX, as it looks to grow its external investor base.

It’s part of a strategic agreement with AE Industrial Partners (AEI), a private equity firm based in Boca Raton, Florida, with more than $3.5 billion in assets.

“The partnership with AEI and future partners broadens our investor base, enables HorizonX to invest at a rapid pace and gives Boeing access to more outside innovation than ever through this investment collaboration,” said Marc Allen, Boeing’s chief strategy officer and senior vice president of strategy and corporate development.

The companies say investments will focus on: mobility, space and connectivity, industrial tech and enterprise digital solutions, with a broader emphasis on sustainability.

It was not immediately clear how much money the deal represents. The move accelerates efforts by Boeing to deepen the pipeline of technology available to the U.S. aerospace giant, according to Reuters report. It also eases the company’s burden of supporting future growth of HorizonX, which has invested in more than a dozen companies.

Chicago-based Boeing launched HorizonX in 2017 to invest in and connect with early-stage companies specializing in transformative aerospace technologies, according to a press release. Since then, it has developed a portfolio of 40 startups from around the world through minority investments and matching the companies with Boeing’s engineering resources.

“The AEI HorizonX platform will provide us with a foundation to build out a new investing pillar focused on transformative businesses and technologies critical to the evolution of our target markets and their impact on the environment,” David Rowe, managing partner at AEI, said in a statement.

The current HorizonX Ventures team, led by Brian Schettler, will move to AEI HorizonX, the release states. Schettler will lead the new platform and become a partner at AEI.

Boeing says it will continue to be a long-term strategic investor in AEI HorizonX and remain the anchor investor for the current fund and AEI HorizonX’s first standalone fund, which is planned for 2022.

The current fund will continue to provide follow-on capital to its existing portfolio, as well as making select new investments as the fund continues to mature.