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Skift Tech Forum Preview: Why JetBlue Airways Entered the Venture Capital Business

Brian Sumers

Photo Credit: JetBlue Tech Ventures President Bonny Simi will speak June 12 at the Skift Tech Forum in San Jose, California. Simi is also a pilot for the airline, flying the Embraer E190. JetBlue Tech Ventures

Skift Take

As an airline, JetBlue Airways lags behind its peers in many metrics, including overall profit, on-time performance and network strength. But it's trying to take the offensive by nurturing start-ups through its Silicon Valley venture capital subsidiary. Will this strategy lead to success? We'll know in a few years.

You will probably not find an airline executive with a more complete resume than Bonny Simi.  She's a Stanford University graduate with three master's degrees, two from Stanford. She's also a a former three-time winter Olympian in luge, and an ex-television sports anchor in a big local market. More recently, she has been an airline pilot, and she still flies the 100-seat Embraer E190 for JetBlue Airways a couple of times a month. But these days she's not a typical pilot. Since joining JetBlue in 2003 after flying for United Airlines, Simi has moved up the executive ranks, leading teams in human resources, customer experience and airports. In early 2016, she became the first president of JetBlue Tech Ventures in Silicon Valley, the airline's venture capital subsidiary. She's seeking to find travel-related investments that can both help JetBlue's main business become more productive, while generate profits. Her group has made investments in 18 c

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