JetBlue
Canvas Category OEM : Aerospace
Born at JFK in 2000, JetBlue is now a global, award-winning travel company. Get to know us and our commitment to customers and communities.
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Beacon AI Secures $15M in Series A Funding to Bring AI into Flight Decks
Beacon AI, a Silicon Valley-based aviation intelligence startup, announced it raised $15 million in Series A funding, led by Costanoa Ventures, with significant participation from Scout Ventures, joining numerous new and existing investors including Sam Altman, and JetBlue Ventures - raising the total venture funding to $20M.
Beacon is on a mission to put AI assistance in every professional flight deck to improve flight safety and efficiency for defense and commercial operators. Beacon is focused primarily on aircraft represented in the commercial market and their defense twins. The adaptable platform presents a dual-use opportunity by being able to serve both markets on similar aircraft. The Series A investment will allow Beacon to expand its team, deliver on existing DOD and commercial engagements, and accelerate the deployment of its flagship products: Murdock, an AI-powered pilot assistant akin to R2-D2 for pilots, and Lighthouse, its data platform and flight management system.
AIR COMPANY Raises $69M in Series B to Commercialize Carbon Utilization Technology and Sustainable Aviation Fuels
AIR COMPANY, a carbon conversion technology company, announced it has raised $69M in Series B funding to advance its technology, promote energy security, and drive emissions reductions in hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation. Avfuel, a leading global supplier of aviation fuel and services, led the round and will be the preferred provider of distribution and logistics, plus environmental attribute tracking and reporting for AIR COMPANY. Additional participants in the round included Lowercarbon Capital, IQT (In-Q-Tel), Alaska Airlines, Connecticut Innovation’s Climate Tech Fund, Duncan Aviation, JSSI, and the owners of Sheltair Aviation, among others. Existing investors Carbon Direct Capital, JetBlue Ventures, and Toyota Ventures also participated in the financing. As part of this investment, Avfuel will join the company’s board of directors.
The new capital will bolster AIR COMPANY’s engineering and R&D capabilities, accelerating the development of its advanced technology to meet increasing demand for clean fuels in both commercial and government sectors. AIR COMPANY is at the forefront of creating scalable sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced from carbon dioxide, which seamlessly integrates into existing aircraft and infrastructure. This investment represents a major advancement toward large-scale production of fully formulated, CO2-derived SAF.
đź“Š Accelerating Innovation at JetBlue Using Databricks
The role of data and in particular analytics, AI and ML is key for airlines to provide a seamless experience for customers while maintaining efficient operations for optimum business goals. For a single flight, for example, from New York to London, hundreds of decisions have to be made based on factors encompassing customers, flight crews, aircraft sensors, live weather and live air traffic control (ATC) data. A large disruption such as a brutal winter storm can impact thousands of flights across the U.S. Therefore it is vital for airlines to depend on real-time data and AI & ML to make proactive real time decisions.
JetBlue has sped AI and ML deployments across a wide range of use cases spanning four lines of business, each with its own AI and ML team. The following are the fundamental functions of the business lines:
- Commercial Data Science (CDS) - Revenue growth
- Operations Data Science (ODS) - Cost reduction
- AI & ML engineering – Go-to-market product deployment optimization
- Business Intelligence – Reporting enterprise scaling and support
Each business line supports multiple strategic products that are prioritized regularly by JetBlue leadership to establish KPIs that lead to effective strategic outcomes.
Shift5 Draws Investors, Raises $33M in Funding to Unlock Onboard Data in Commercial and Military Fleets and Weapon Systems
Shift5, the onboard data company, today announced it has raised $33 million in additional financing, bringing its Series B round to $83 million. Led by Moore Strategic Ventures, industry stalwarts across defense and commercial aerospace industries including Booz Allen Hamilton’s corporate venture capital arm, Booz Allen Ventures, and JetBlue Ventures, as well as Teamworthy Ventures, participated in the round, bringing the company’s total venture funding to $108 million. The fundraise comes amid significant business momentum; in the last year Shift5 more than doubled its annual recurring revenue (ARR), more than doubled its number of customers across Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial aerospace and rail sectors, and grew the rate of its platform deployments on commercial and DoD vehicles and weapon systems by 1,275%.