SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JetBlue Technology Ventures® (JTV), the venture capital subsidiary of JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU), today announced its latest efforts to help fuel travel industry innovation in 2018. The Silicon-Valley-based company, which incubates, invests in, and partners with early-stage start-ups at the intersection of technology and travel begins its third year by announcing its latest investment and a launch partnership with a global travel technology startup program.
JTV’s Latest Investment Provides Weather Sensitive Industries with Forecast Precision
JetBlue Technology Ventures has invested in the Series A funding of ClimaCell, a software-based hyper-local weather forecasting company. ClimaCell creates proprietary weather observation data from wireless networks that then feed into its models. The results pinpoint weather prediction down to city-block-level granularity in real-time and at one minute intervals 0-6 hours in the future for businesses and government agencies. "Both JTV and ClimaCell are innovators in the aviation and mobility space. We're thrilled to be working together to provide next-generation operations tools and weather technology for safer and more efficient skies," said Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and Co-Founder, ClimaCell.
New Partnership Helps JTV Engage with Start-ups Worldwide
JetBlue Technology Ventures is the Corporate Launch Partner for the FTE Startup Hub, created by Future Travel Experience, an independent online media, events and industry change leader dedicated to enhancing the end-to-end passenger experience and business performance. The FTE Startup Hub will offer a comprehensive global online repository of the most relevant startups alongside a platform to facilitate face-to-face engagement, making it easy for corporate innovators and startups in the air transport and travel sector to connect both digitally and in-person. “Today marks an important new chapter in the FTE story with the launch of the FTE Startup Hub - a landmark new initiative to connect the best air transport and travel startups with corporate innovators, both digitally and in person. I'd like to thank JetBlue Technology Ventures for their commitment as we develop this unique new proposition,” said Daniel Coleman, Director and Founder of Future Travel Experience.
“We established JetBlue Technology Ventures to expand upon JetBlue’s innovative travel brand,” said Bonny Simi, President of JetBlue Technology Ventures. “As we enter our third year, we are expanding our global reach and impact by building relationships with a range of startups across the travel and hospitality spectrum worldwide. ClimaCell will have a broad impact across many industries across the globe. The FTE Startup Hub will be an excellent platform for us to continue building out our global presence.”
For more information, visit www.JetBlueVentures.com. To learn more about our investment in Climacell, read our latest blog post on Medium: http://bit.ly/2mRb9Fy.
About JetBlue Technology Ventures
JetBlue Technology Ventures invests in, incubates and partners with early stage startups at the intersection of technology and travel to improve the entire travel experience. The company prioritizes investments that advance the customer-centric journey; technology empowered customer service; the future of operations and maintenance; revenue management, sales & distribution; and new regional transport ecosystems. Founded in 2016, JetBlue Technology Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) and is located in Silicon Valley, Calif. For more information, visit www.JetBlueVentures.com.
