We invest in early-stage companies tackling the most critical issues facing aerospace, national security, and industrial markets.
Featured Companies
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Second Front Systems (2F) fast-tracks government access to disruptive, commercially-proven, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications for national security missions. Leading software providers — ranging from publicly traded defense contractors to startups — and government agencies trust 2F’s Game Warden DevSecOps platform and secure cloud hosting environment to accelerate their delivery and harness the cloud revolution at scale.

Initial Investment | December 2022
Headquarters | Tysons, VA
Status | Active

JuliaHub is the cloud-native platform for Julia, an open-source programming language that solves the two language problem by combining the ease of Python with the speed of C++. Ideal for technical computing – compute-intensive numerical analysis, data visualization, and machine learning – the JuliaHub platform provides collaboration, parallel and GPU computing, reproducibility, and governance that accelerate the development of mission-critical products in regulated industries.

Initial Investment | May 2023
Headquarters | Cambridge, MA
Active | Active

Solestial is a space solar energy company developing ultrathin and lightweight silicon solar cells and panels that can self-cure radiation damage at normal operating temperatures in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Solestial’s solar panels can be produced at scale using automated production methods at 90 percent lower cost than solar panels widely used by today’s satellite industry. This best-in-class silicon photovoltaic technology, which is optimized for space, delivers orbital reliability of at least 10 years in LEO.

Initial Investment | September 2022
Headquarters | Tempe, AZ
Status | Active

Salient Motion is developing an electric motion operating system designed to reimagine the supply chain with the help of cutting-edge software. Salient Motion integrates a software operating system and virtual lab bench tool suite for motors, drivetrains, and other complex components for aerospace, defense, automotive, and industrial applications. Their software-first approach can dramatically reduce cost, complexity, lead time, and development time for highly regulated, exquisite components.

Initial Investment | February 2023
Headquarters | Irvine, CA

Shift5 is an operational technology (OT) cybersecurity company that defends military platforms and critical transportation systems from cyberattacks. Shift5 unlocks the serial networks and data that control planes, trains, and tanks, providing visibility into fleet assets where operators have historically been locked out and allows operators to gain complete observability, detect threats, and maintain resilience of OT systems as cyber-physical attacks become an increasingly attractive strategy for digital attackers.

Initial Investment | July 2022
Headquarters | Arlington, VA
Status | Active

Electric Power Systems (EPS) is the market leader in electric power solutions for the aerospace mobility market; manufacturing integrated battery packs for customers such as Boeing, Bell, Embraer, Bye Aerospace and NASA. The company specializes in producing high energy density battery solutions that are safe and certifiable, enabling high-end applications across multiple industries, such as automotive, space and marine platforms.

Initial Investment | June 2019
Headquarters | Logan, UT
Status | Active
Power & Utility Services
https://northvolt.com/

Northvolt is in the battery business. Manufacturing with clean energy, our mission is to deliver batteries with an 80% lower carbon footprint compared to those made using coal energy with a goal to produce 150 GWh of capacity by 2030.

Initial Investment | June 2021
Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden
Status | Active

Red 6 is an augmented reality company for military training and commercial applications worldwide. Its patented display technology augments the joint space through a suite of AR products that support the synthetic training environments – transforming Live, Virtual and Constructive training by providing crucial capabilities to advance U.S. Military and allied readiness. Red 6 brings the Virtual and Constructive assets into the real-world by allowing pilots and ground operators to see synthetic threats in real-time, outdoors and high-speed environments.

Initial Investment | October 2022
Headquarters | Orlando, FL
Active | Active

ALL.SPACE is the world’s first and only communication platform that gives you access to multiple satellite and terrestrial networks concurrently from a single device. The ALL.SPACE software-defined smart terminal platform can connect with all networks via multiple, simultaneous, full performance links that converge intelligent routing, edge computing, integrated modems, and cellular access in a fully integrated solution.

Initial Investment | January 2019
Headquarters | London, UK
Status | Active

Fortem Technologies offers airspace awareness safety & security solutions to detect, assess, and categorize airborne threats in real time to commercial and government customers. Through their family of distributed radar solutions, AI at the edge, deep sensor integration, and autonomous drone capture, Fortem monitors, protects and defends the world’s venues, infrastructures, cities, and regions from dangerous or malicious drone threats and provides infrastructure for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) or radars for collision and avoidance.

Initial Investment | February 2019
Headquarters | Provo, UT
Status | Active
Business Aviation
https://immfly.com/

Immfly has developed a best-in-class Inflight Digital Services and Entertainment software solution for airlines that combines premium content with a back-end software platform that provides airlines with data and customer insights that drive revenue. Immfly has focused on the low cost carrier segment and has its system integrated on to over 500 aircraft today.

Initial Investment | November 2022
Headquarters | Barcelona, Spain
Status | Active

Tidelift is an open-source supply chain resiliency platform. Tidelift leverages a two-sided marketplace to help mitigate health and security issues in open-source software for enterprise level organizations. Tidelift’s open-source management subscription provides enterprises with a unique tool to create, track and manage catalogs of approved open-source components to avoid using at-risk code – mitigating potential cyberattacks or infrastructure workflow bottle necks.

Initial Investment | September 2022
Headquarters | Boston, MA
Status | Active
Team
SENIOR ASSOCIATE
Chester Brown
Team | AE Ventures, Investment Team

Mr. Brown is a Senior Associate at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2023, he worked as a consultant for VMO Air, an aircraft leasing firm, and for H55, an electric aircraft systems manufacturer. Before that, Mr. Brown was an investor at P2 Capital Partners, a New York-based hedge fund. He began his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, where he focused on M&A and capital raising for technology and natural resources companies.

Education
  • Stanford University Graduate School of Business, MBA
  • Dartmouth College, BA
Experience
  • VMO Air
  • H55
  • P2 Capital Partners
  • Morgan Stanley
VICE PRESIDENT
Zeke Fraint
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Fraint is a Vice President at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2022, Mr. Fraint served as Chief of Staff to the CEO at Clearcover, driving operational excellence across the business. Prior to Clearcover, he served as the SVP of Strategy and Operations at NexLP, an AI NLP data analytics company, and grew the team from 10 to 35+ employees through acquisition. Mr. Fraint has extensive experience in research, analysis and strategy, and has been recognized as a leader in collaborating with C-suite executives across the start-up community. Mr. Fraint lived in Israel for nearly a decade, serving in the elite Paratrooper’s of the Israel Defense Forces and working in the U.S. State Department’s Local Guard Force.

Education
  • Reichman University, BA
  • Georgetown University, MA
  • Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, MBA
Experience
  • Clearcover
  • NexLP
ASSOCIATE
Lauren Graupman
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Ms. Graupman is an Associate at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2022, Ms. Graupman headed the Program Management department at Knight Aerospace, where she managed the product development, production, and delivery of new mission systems for military cargo aircraft. Prior to Knight Aerospace, Ms. Graupman worked in key roles at multiple technology startups spanning from Project Management and Operations to Sales and Business Development. Ms. Graupman started her career with the University of Delaware’s startup accelerator, delivering programming, resources and advising to early-stage entrepreneurs. She is also an alumnus of Venture for America, a two-year entrepreneurship fellowship that serves to create economic opportunity in American cities. Fellows complete intensive training and spend two years working at high-growth organizations in emerging startup ecosystems.

Education
  • Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, MBA Candidate 2025
  • University of Delaware, BS
Experience
  • Knight Aerospace
PRINCIPAL
Beckett Jackson
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Jackson is a Principal at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Mr. Jackson serves on the board of several portfolio companies and more recently led the firm’s investments in Shift5, Solestial and Salient Motion, amongst others. Prior to joining AE Ventures in 2021, he spent nearly a decade with The Boeing Company focused on product development, strategy and investing across defense and commercial aerospace markets. He was an original member of the advanced prototyping team that developed Australia’s first clean sheet aircraft program in 50 years – an unmanned jet fighter since designated MQ-28A Ghost Bat and now in service with the Royal Australian Air Force. Mr. Jackson has extensive experience analyzing markets and developing business and investment strategies, including as a corporate strategy leader within Boeing and as an aerospace and defense consultant at Jane’s (now IHS Markit). He spent his early career in technology and national security roles across the U.S. Government.

Education
  • Georgetown University, MA
  • Johns Hopkins University, BA
Experience
  • Boeing HorizonX Ventures
  • Phantom
  • Boeing
  • IHS Markit
CHAIRMAN OF AE VENTURES, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
David Joyce
Team | AE Ventures, Operating Partners & Advisors

Mr. Joyce is the Chairman of AE Ventures and a Strategic Advisor to AE Industrial across its entire portfolio of investments and strategies. He brings more than 40 years of leadership experience at GE Aviation, where he served for 12 years as President & CEO, and also served as the former Vice Chairman of the General Electric Company. Under Mr. Joyce’s leadership, GE Aviation doubled its revenue to $33B and grew its backlog 10-fold to $270B. His tenure at GE Aviation was also considered a golden era of aviation innovation, including the development of new, fuel-efficient engine technologies and transformative manufacturing materials and processes, as well as the formation of global alliances solidifying GE Aviation’s world-leading position for jet engines, components and integrated systems for commercial aviation and military aircraft. Mr. Joyce brings a broad network of long-standing relationships with commercial, military and government customers as well as regulatory agencies worldwide. Mr. Joyce is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Director of The Boeing Company. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Xavier University, and is a Board Member Emeritus of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. His past board affiliations include the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Aerospace Industries Association Executive Committee.

Education
  • Xavier University, MBA
  • Michigan State University, BS and MS
  • Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Experience
  • General Electric
  • GE Aviation
VICE PRESIDENT
Eugene Kim
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Kim is a Vice President at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Ventures, he was part of AE Industrial’s Private Equity team, where he helped execute and grow Gryphon Technologies (acquired by ManTech). Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2018, Mr. Kim was a Specialist in the Corporate Development group at The Boeing Company, where he focused on M&A and other strategic activities. Prior to Boeing, Mr. Kim was a member of Sandler O’Neill + Partners’ Investment Banking Group, where he focused on M&A and capital raising for financial institutions.

Education
  • University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA
  • Northwestern University, BA
Experience
  • The Boeing Company
  • Sandler O’Neill + Partners
VICE PRESIDENT
Daniel O'Neill
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. O’Neill is a Vice President at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2024, he founded Hundred Acre Consulting Group, a consortium of independent, multidisciplinary entrepreneurs that provides outsourced strategic finance, corporate development and operational efficiency services for business leaders across a range of industries. Before that, Mr. O’Neill was the Vice President of Corporate Development at Latch, a multifamily real estate technology firm, where he served as a principal on the company’s merger with a Tishman Speyer-sponsored SPAC, and built the company’s M&A and corporate venture infrastructure. Prior to joining Latch, Mr. O’Neill served as Head of Corporate Development at Shift Technologies, an auto ecommerce platform for buying & selling used cars, where he successfully took the company public via a SPAC. Before joining Shift, he served as Senior Corporate Development Manager at Eventbrite, the Director of Business Operations for the Americas division of 360 Trading Networks, Inc. and a Senior Finance & Operations Manager at Vertical Research Partners. Mr. O’Neill also co-founded a B2C health and fitness nutrition e-commerce start-up called RacePak, curating international craft nutrition products for individual subscribers, while also serving as a B2B nutrition distributor to fitness facilities around the country. He began his career serving in several financial, operational and sales roles at Thomson Reuters in London, New York and Boston.

Education
  • Wake Forest University, BA
Experience
  • Hundred Acre Consulting Group
  • Latch Inc.
  • Shift Technologies, Inc.
  • Eventbrite, Inc.
  • 360 Trading Networks, Inc.
  • Vertical Research Partners
  • RacePak
  • Thomson Reuters
PRINCIPAL
Tyler Rowe
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Rowe is a Principal at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Mr. Rowe serves on the board of several portfolio companies and more recently led the firm’s investments in Second Front Systems, JuliaHub, and Tidelift, amongst others. Mr. Rowe originally founded the early venture capital arm at AE Industrial in 2019. Pulling from deep experience in music, film, apparel and tech, Mr. Rowe helps identify, evaluate and lead software infrastructure investments across AE Ventures target markets. In addition, with his operational experience, Mr. Rowe provides direct support to AE Industrial’s portfolio companies to help create value in their leading innovation platforms.

 

Education
  • UCLA, MBA
  • Wharton’s Executive Ventures Program
  • University of Alabama, BA
PARTNER, HEAD OF AE VENTURES
Brian Schettler
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Schettler is a Partner at AE Industrial and leads AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2021, Mr. Schettler was the Founder and Senior Managing Director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. He led the Boeing venture capital team chartered with investing in selected startups throughout the world. His team identified and pursued opportunities to make investments in startup companies for next-generation Aerospace, Defense, and Security applications. He has been recognized by Global Corporate Venturing Institute for creating and leading a Top 30 corporate venture capital unit out of the 2,200+ that they track globally. Mr. Schettler has over two decades of experience in aerospace, technology, and defense companies in engineering, strategy, operational, M&A and investing roles. Mr. Schettler spent a year as the acting Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Boeing while also leading the HorizonX team. He spent three years as vice president of corporate strategy at Cobham plc, a global technology company headquartered in the United Kingdom. He spent another two years at ATK and was responsible for corporate strategy and portfolio development. He also was a senior strategist for Boeing Military Aircraft and Phantom Works. Finally, Mr. Schettler led strategy and program operations for the Space Systems Division of Northrop Grumman.

Education
  • University of Maryland, MBA
  • Northwestern University, BS
  • Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Executive education courses
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Engineering certifications
Experience
  • Boeing HorizonX Ventures
  • Boeing
  • Cobham plc
  • ATK
  • Northrop Grumman
VICE PRESIDENT
Ben Van Buskirk
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Mr. Van Buskirk is a Vice President at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. He is a retired Navy Captain and accomplished aviator with over 2,500 flight hours across nine military and civil aircraft. With 25 years of Department of Defense experience, he is a founding member of both the Secretary of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital, whose mission is to align private capital with critical national security objectives, and the Navy’s Warfighting Development Directorate, where he was charged with running a framework focused on solving the Navy’s most pressing operational problems. He also served as Director of NavalX, the sea service’s innovation and agility cell, which addressed friction points between acquisition, fleet requirements, R&D, budgeting, end users and industry. As an operational squadron commander, his unit was honored as the best helicopter sea-combat squadron in the Pacific Fleet and for having the best aviation maintenance program in the U.S. Department of Defense. Over his tenure, he has advised numerous startups, investors and senior industry leaders and operated at the highest level of government.

Education
  • University of Arizona, BS
  • Naval Postgraduate School, MBA (Defense Focus)
  • UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Understanding Defense Industry Program
  • Harvard Business School, Venture Capital & Entrepreneurship Program
Experience
  • Office of Strategic Capital
  • NavalX
  • Warfighting Development Directorate
  • VMware, Inc.
  • “Golden Falcons”
  • Joint Chiefs of Staff
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Laurence Vigeant-Langlois
Team | Investment Team, AE Ventures

Dr. Vigeant-Langlois is Managing Director at AE Industrial with a primary focus on new business development and portfolio management across AE Industrial’s funds in private equity, venture capital, and aircraft leasing, where she serves on the Investment Committee of AE Ventures, and on AEI’s Origination Guidance and Sustainability Committees. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of AEI portfolio companies: Alpine Air, Applied Composites, Columbia Helicopters, Edge Autonomy and G.S. Precision, and on the Boards of Directors of AE Ventures portfolio companies: Eos Aircraft, FLYR, Gamma Alloys, Near Earth Autonomy and Revolution Space. In addition, she also serves as a Senior Commercialization Advisor with DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense focused on breakthrough technologies for national and economic security. Prior to joining AE Industrial, Dr. Vigeant-Langlois worked for GE Aerospace as Chief Executive Officer of the GE Passport joint venture with Safran and IHI, and as program management executive responsible for the Passport, CF34-3 and CF34-8C engines on Bombardier and Mitsubishi’s aircraft. Previously at GE, Dr. Vigeant-Langlois played a key role on the founding team that launched and grew GE Additive as a leading force in industrial 3D printing, and led the strategy and global field marketing teams supporting the sale of GE Aviation’s engines, systems and services across commercial, business and military aviation. Before GE, Dr. Vigeant-Langlois led commercial, product and engineering teams in aerospace and high-tech industries. At Sikorsky Aircraft (Lockheed Martin), she launched new engineering innovation, ran defense offset programs and led the Operations Analysis and contract R&D teams. At aircraft lessor CIT (Avolon), she gained increasing responsibilities in acquiring $9B of aircraft and engines. At The Weather Company, she led the democratization of cockpit weather information and the launch of SiriusXM Aviation Weather. She also previously transported air freight flying Learjets across North America. She received SM and PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University, is a graduate of the International Space University space studies program, UTC’s Darden executive program, several GE Crotonville programs, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and completed the CFA Level 1. She is a certified FAA commercial pilot with Learjet privileges and a flight instructor in gliders. She also serves as Board Advisor to health tech company Triangulate Labs, and is a member of The Wings Club and PEWIN.

Education
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SM and PhD
  • McGill University, BEng
  • International Space University, Certificate in Space Studies
Experience
  • GE Aviation
  • Sikorsky Aircraft
  • CIT Aerospace
  • The Weather Company
About Us
Our Founders

We gravitate toward brilliant founders who are addressing problems they’ve often faced firsthand, and we help these founders transform an excellent idea or product into a robust, scalable business. We are patient investors and make few, concentrated bets so that we can maximize our time spent with founders.

Our Markets

We are deeply passionate about critical mission sets and problems that are facing the U.S. and allies. We appreciate the immense complexity of the U.S. defense apparatus and industrial base and seek to tactically inject agile solutions in order to improve legacy systems and processes with the goal of furthering our national interests.

Our Value

We are the armor for companies selling into the government and large OEMs that helps them bypass the valley of death and multi-year procurement cycles. Our targeted approach paves the way toward achieving programs of record and sticky, recurring contracts, and has helped to deliver over $80M in revenue to our portfolio.

Our DNA

We’ve been investing in aerospace and national security for 25+ years and we understand what it takes to build businesses in these markets. We leverage our deep relationships with industry professionals who have decades of experience across the defense industrial base to provide balanced counsel to our founders as well as drive tangible economic outcomes.

Connect With Us

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