United Airlines Ventures

United Airlines Ventures (UAV) is the corporate venture capital unit of United Airlines, established in 2021 to invest in early-stage companies with the potential to shape the future of aerospace, aviation infrastructure and technology. It sits inside the Chicago-based airline and Michael Leskinen, United's executive who held the title President of United Airlines Ventures in 2023 press releases, was its public face during the Sustainable Flight Fund launch. The unit's current site lists Mukul Hariharan as Managing Partner.

The portfolio splits into four buckets on UAV's own site: aerospace (Archer Aviation, Boom Supersonic, Heart Aerospace, JetZero, ZeroAvia, Eve Air Mobility, Airhart Aeronautics, Astro Mechanica), aviation infrastructure (Navi, Assaia, Overwatch AI, Enhanced Radar, Skypuzzler), travel technology (CLEAR, Mindtrip, Layla, aiOla, Blockskye, EP Systems) and companies held through the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund (Cemvita, Twelve, Dimensional Energy, Svante, Electric Hydrogen, Koloma, OXCCU, Heirloom, Verne). The site marks CLEAR, Archer Aviation and Eve Air Mobility as monetizations.

What sets UAV apart is the Sustainable Flight Fund, launched in February 2023 to scale sustainable aviation fuel. It opened with more than $100 million from United and partners Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase and Honeywell, and by July 2023 had grown to nearly $200 million after eight more corporate partners joined, including Aramco Ventures, Bank of America, JetBlue Ventures and Groupe ADP. More than 60,000 United customers had contributed over $200,000. Its first investment was a $5 million participation in Viridos's $25 million Series A, led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. By July 2023 United said it had invested in the future production of more than 5 billion gallons of SAF through companies such as Alder Fuels, Cemvita, Dimensional Energy, Svante and Viridos, which ties the venture stakes to fuel supply.