New & Noteworthy
Stefan Sandoval Yepes on our investment team gave a short keynote in Dallas last week at Future Travel Experience Global on what airports and airlines will look like by 2040. He then moderated the panel that followed, with Alaska Airlines, IAG, Coforge, Fraunhofer IML and NCTCOG as participants.
He looked at airport innovation through two lenses: what passengers see and experience, and the invisible work behind the scenes that makes the operation run faster.
The first is being rebuilt around identity. For example, Frankfurt Airport can now run a walk-through security scanner where nobody stops or takes off a jacket.
The second is being rebuilt around computer vision, and this piece is further along than most travelers realize. Delta now clears an aircraft inspection in under 90 minutes that used to take 16 hours by hand.
Airlines are increasingly funding these rebuild themselves. Travel tech investment grew for a second straight year in 2025, landing in fewer and larger rounds, and airline, hotel and GDS venture arms are now the fastest-growing category of investor in the sector. That is what changes how quickly a good idea reaches a gate.
Portfolio Spotlight
Joby flew an electric air taxi into Dallas Fort Worth International’s controlled airspace, part of a five-day Texas campaign under the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The flights exist to generate the operational data the FAA will use to write the first commercial air taxi rules.
Assaia received investment from United Airlines Ventures to back StandManager, its new product for deciding which aircraft goes to which gate as conditions shift through the day.
Avnos brought its largest carbon capture deployment online, funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. The plant is designed to pull 450 tons of CO2 a year out of the air, feedstock for sustainable
Hot Startup
Getting cargo into places without an airport runway has always come down to crews, and a wide gap exists between a small drone carrying a few pounds and a military transport that needs a full flight deck. Merlin, a Boston company whose autonomy software already flies the C-130J under a $105M contract ceiling with U.S. Special Operations Command, unveiled a pilot-optional Cessna SkyCourier with Textron Aviation this week, a 6,000-pound-payload freighter built to fly with a reduced crew or none at all. The Air Force is separately evaluating the same software for its KC-135 tanker fleet.
SKY VC On the Go
Skift Global Forum | September 22-24 | New York
Amy Burr will lead a roundtable on when to build, buy, or partner for your next growth platform. Her session is already full, but come say hi in between panels!
What We’re Reading
Meta launches AI agent with travel booking capabilities (Via PhocusWire)
Amadeus is working with Anthropic to help developers access content (Via PhocusWire)
Portfolio Jobs
Joby is hiring an Autonomy Systems Architect in Concord, California, a Base Maintenance Supervisor in Arizona, and a Certification Project Engineer, International in Tokyo.
Tomorrow.io is hiring a Chief Meteorologist in the Caribbean, a Director, Regulatory Compliance & Export Controls remotely, and an Electro-Mechanical Technician in Golden, Colorado.
Gladly is hiring an AI Deployment Engineer in Colombia and a Revenue Accountant in the US, both remote.
Assaia is hiring a Data Scientist and a Software Engineer, ML/Core, both remote.