Aerospace giant Airbus Group is to establish a corporate venture capital fund, Airbus Group Ventures, as well as a technology and business innovation centre in Silicon Valley. Airbus will provide an initial commitment of US$150m to the VC to invest in…
Aerospace giant Airbus Group is to establish a corporate venture capital fund, Airbus Group Ventures, as well as a technology and business innovation centre in Silicon Valley.
Airbus will provide an initial commitment of US$150m to the VC to invest in disruptive and innovative business opportunities. The fund will be led by Tim Dombrowski, a former partner at US$4bn Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and director of global business development at HP.
Dombrowski has also previously worked in aerospace, managing defence, satellite and UAV programmes for Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC).
At the same time, Paul Eremenko has been appointed CEO of the Airbus Group Silicon Valley technology and business innovation centre. He joins the company from Google, where he served as director of engineering in the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) organization.
Before joining Google, Eremenko held various senior positions at Motorola and DARPA, the US Defense Department’s unit responsible for developing emerging technologies. At the latter, Eremenko headed the office in charge of all aircraft, spacecraft and other large system development efforts.
In their new roles, Eremenko and Dombrowski will report directly to Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders.
Commenting on the new strategy, Enders said: “Our investment and engagement through these new initiatives are key elements in the global transformation of our company. Silicon Valley serves as a unique hub for technology breakthroughs and we see huge opportunities to learn from and partner with the many players based there.”