We're excited to announce that Arielle Ring has joined JetBlue Ventures as President! She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience across the travel and transportation industry, from investment banking, asset management, and startup operations.
A Conversation with Arielle Ring
What drew you to JetBlue Ventures?
After nearly two decades as both an operator and investor in this space—covering global airlines and OEMs at Citi as an investment banker, building out an aviation alternative asset manager, and most recently serving as CFO at several high-growth startups—JBV stood out for two compelling reasons.
First, our unique ability to accelerate startup success by embedding them within the travel ecosystem. This advantage is now supercharged by our recent acquisition by Sky Leasing, which brings over 100 key relationships across airlines, MROs, and OEMs. Having been an operator myself, I know how rare it is to find an investor who doesn't just write checks but actively helps drive revenue.
Second, I believe sector expertise is critical to being a great investor. Travel and transportation constitute a nearly $10 trillion market growing at roughly twice the pace of global GDP. Yet, it remains heavily regulated, with an antiquated tech stack, and is underinvested in by teams with real domain knowledge. Our team stands out because we're not just investors—we're all travel and transportation veterans. For example, our CEO Amy Burr was on Virgin America's founding team, leading tech and commercial operations. These insights help us select the most compelling startups at the seed stage, before companies have significant product and commercial proof points.
What are you most excited to tackle in your new role?
Two things stand out as I step into this role:
Scaling our proven model with institutional capital: JetBlue Ventures is accepting institutional capital for the first time in our history, representing a pivotal moment. We have a winning formula developed over the last decade—combining deep sector expertise with ecosystem connectivity to help startups succeed. My focus is ensuring we can scale this approach and capitalize on new opportunities while maintaining the hands-on, relationship-driven investment style that has made us successful.
Accelerating portfolio company success through capital markets expertise: I'm particularly excited to work with our portfolio companies on their fundraising and exit strategies. Having raised over $4 billion in equity capital across the spectrum—from venture funds to public market investors—and completed over $11 billion in global M&A transactions, I can help our companies navigate these critical inflection points. In travel and transportation, timing and positioning for exits are especially nuanced given industry dynamics, and I'm eager to leverage this experience to maximize outcomes for our founders.
What trends or technologies do you see shaping the travel and transportation sectors, and how is that influencing JBV's investment strategy?
AI with real-world applications: We're looking for AI applications that solve actual operational pain points, not just theoretical use cases. Our first-ever investment in 2016, FLYR, uses AI to drive revenue optimization. More recently, we invested in UrbanFox, which uses AI to think like a “fraudster” to prevent online payment fraud at rates significantly higher than legacy platforms.
Frontier technologies with near-term business applications: Companies like Tomorrow.io are applying advanced weather intelligence to travel disruption management, while others like Misapplied Sciences are using cutting-edge parallel reality technology to transform marketing and revenue growth opportunities. We look for technologies that seem adjacent but have profound sector applications.
With 70% of our investments in enterprise tech, we're focused on companies rebuilding the foundational systems that power the industry.
Our strategy is to identify these technologies early, before they're obvious to generalist investors, leveraging our sector expertise to spot the winners.
What advice would you give to travel and transportation startups looking to scale?
Start with the problem, not the technology: The travel industry is littered with interesting tech that doesn't solve real operational challenges. Spend time understanding the actual pain points operators face daily—revenue leakage, operational inefficiencies, and regulatory compliance burdens.
Build relationships early: This industry runs on relationships and trust. Don't wait until you need enterprise customers to start building connections. The ecosystem is surprisingly interconnected, and early advocates can become your biggest champions.
Focus on proof points that matter: Enterprise customers in this space want to see clear ROI. Be prepared to demonstrate not just that your product works, but that it drives measurable business outcomes—cost savings, revenue increases, or operational improvements.
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Please join us in congratulating Arielle on her new role! If you’d like to learn more, visit our website and sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter. And if you’re an early-stage startup building the next big thing in travel and transportation, we’d love to hear from you at inbound@jetblueventures.com.
