SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 5, 2017 – Silicon Valley technology company Stellar
Labs, Inc. (“Stellar”) has raised $26.3 million in Series A equity financing from Global
Jet Capital (a leading provider of corporate aircraft financing solutions capitalized by
The Carlyle Group, Blackstone’s GSO Capital Partners, and AE Industrial Partners),
Columbia Equity Partners (“CEP”), and Expa.

Together with previous equity rounds and funding from Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL),
Stellar is investing over $50 million in its next-generation technology platform for
business aviation. Business aviation contributes $150 billion to U.S. economic output
and employs more than 1.2 million people. It accounts for nearly 29% of all consumer
spending on air travel in the United States and nearly matches commercial aviation in
daily flight departures.

“When we founded Stellar in 2014, the industry basically ran on technology built
before the Internet era,” said co-founder and CEO David Fox. “In commercial aviation,
innovations in advanced technologies drove ticket prices down 73% and increased
access to regional communities over the last two decades, despite rising fuel prices of
400%.” “We believe similar efficiency gains can be achieved in business aviation—
giving rise to an upcoming revolution in the access to and use of business aviation by
the general public,” added co-founder Paul Touw.

The equity round was led by Columbia Equity Partners, an aviation focused
investment group led by Dean Donovan and Brian Flynn. Both are veteran aviation
and technology experts, and co-founders of the ultra-low-cost, high-tech Volaris
Airlines (NYSE: VLRS). Mr. Donovan previously ran Bain & Company’s aviation practice.
Both have joined Stellar’s Board of Directors along with Global Jet Capital’s Shawn
Vick and David Siegel, former CEO of US Airways, Frontier Airways, Avis Budget
Group, AWAS (a $9 billion aircraft leasing company), and XOJET.

“Business aviation is riddled with inefficiencies, from overhead and transaction costs of
40%, to a nearly 38% non-revenue or ‘deadhead’ rate, to asset utilization rates oneeighth that of commercial airlines,” said Mr. Flynn. “Stellar is on the verge of solving
these problems and even incremental improvements to these metrics could cut ondemand charter costs by more than one-third.”

Mr. Donovan made a bolder prediction noting, “At Volaris, a 1% drop in ticket price
yields a market stimulation rate in higher consumer use of typically 3–4%. As the latest
technologies utilized in commercial aviation begin to penetrate business aviation, we
expect on-demand charter to triple in size over the next 6–8 years as the industry
moves online.”

Stellar, in partnership with Rockwell Collins, is developing a next-generation,
completely unified, cloud-based operating platform that will combine all of the
market-leading flight operations planning functionality of ARINCDirectSM FOS (Flight
Operations System) with Stellar’s global distribution systems and commercial
operations technology.

“Stellar is taking the rich features that have made ARINCDirectSM FOS a proven leader,
and together we are building a next-generation collaborative platform that will help to
automate, simplify, and streamline business aviation operations,” said Dave Poltorak,
vice president, Business and Government Aviation for Rockwell Collins.

Stellar will introduce its pioneering, fully integrated commercial operations, revenue
management, aircraft operations, crew management, and digital global distribution
system for the business aviation market at the National Business Aviation Association
(NBAA) Convention in Las Vegas on October 10, 2017 (booth N4000).

ABOUT STELLAR LABS

Stellar is building the first complete flight operations management, commercial
management, and global distribution system for business aviation. Designed in Silicon
Valley, Stellar brings together the most advanced technologies and data science to
streamline business aviation for operators and travelers alike. For more information,
visit www.stellar.aero, like us on Facebook (stellarlabsaero), follow us on
Twitter (@stellaraero), or join us on LinkedIn (stellar-labs-inc-).

MEDIA CONTACTS

Richard Thomas
VP Marketing
richard@stellar.aero
+1 (415) 997-9961 US
+44 790 495 0841 UK
Phil Anderson
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
phil.anderson@citigatedr.co.uk
+44 207 282 1031 UK

 

INVESTOR QUOTES

“We invested in Stellar because we see its potential to increase access to air charter
supply and quickly, efficiently match it with demand thus changing the travel
experience in this segment. We expect their digital access to the business air travel
marketplace will open new customer segments with direct, timely, and cost effective
air travel.”
— Bill Boisture, AE Industrial Partners

“We are excited about the long-term growth potential for Stellar as more operators
shift to modern, cloud-based technology for their sales, marketing, and operations.
We are making a strategic investment in Stellar and expect them to be a disruptive
technology that will help transform the business jet industry.” — Shawn Vick, Global Jet
Capital CEO
AE Industrial Partners

“The industry needs a common operating platform—a single source of truth—similar to
the commercial airline sector. Stellar is the only company in a position to build that
vision and platform. We expect the network effects for the entire industry to be
significant.” — David Siegel, TS Capital Partners Managing Partner

OPERATOR QUOTES

“What Stellar is doing has the potential to radically change the industry and expand
the market for private aviation. The implications on cost efficiencies are
phenomenal.” — Gregg Fahrenbruch, Mountain Aviation CEO

“I believe Stellar is going to double the size of this industry by making access to
business aviation vastly more simple, easy, and available to anyone, anywhere
online.” — William Borgsmiller, ACI Jet, Inc. President & CEO

“Stellar and Rockwell Collins are creating the new digital backbone that will enable
the industry’s transition into the digital age. It’s clear to us that within the next five
years any serious charter operator will need digital distribution channels.” — Andrew
Reenstra, Aircraft Services Group, Inc. President

 

Stellar Labs Inc. | 100 Marine Parkway Ste 350, Redwood City, CA 94065
844.887.8355 | info@stellar.aero | www.stellar.aero