Boeing teams up with AEI to launch new venture capital platform

Boeing and AeroEquity Industrial Partners today announced AEI HorizonX, a new partnership to expand Boeing's venture capital investments.

The partnership brings together Boeing's HorizonX innovation and investment cell with AEI's operational and private equity investing experience to establish an independent and expanded venture capital group, AEI HorizonX, according to a joint statement.

"We're excited to launch this transformative and first-of-its-kind business innovation with AEI that will expand the horizon for HorizonX and double down on our commitment to early-stage technology innovation," Marc Allen, Boeing's chief strategy officer and senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, said in the statement. "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."

Boeing launched HorizonX in 2017 to invest in and connect with early-stage companies specializing in transformative aerospace technologies. The team has developed a portfolio of 40 start-ups from around the world through minority investments and matching the companies with Boeing's engineering resources. HorizonX has offices in Menlo Park, CA; Bellevue, WA; St. Louis; Austin, TX; Washington; Tel Aviv and London.

"As a specialist investment firm with a focus on aerospace and industrial markets, AEI is constantly monitoring technology innovations that will drive transformational change and reimagine the future of our industry," said David Rowe, managing partner at AEI. "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."

Under the new arrangement, the current HorizonX Ventures team, led by Brian Schettler, and its portfolio will become part of AEI HorizonX. Schettler will lead the new platform and become a partner at AEI.

"Boeing 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 planned for 2022," the statement reads. "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."