Elsa Keïta was key to setting up Airbus Venturing Platform, the aerospace company’s venturing arm in Europe, in 2013 after spending four years in the company’s strategy and business development department as a senior director.
As lead for the Airbus Venturing Platform, she helps identify and set up partnerships with high-business-potential and strong-return developing-stage startups. After two years of operations she said the company had formed 10 such partnerships.
Before joining Airbus in 2009, Keïta spent 20 years working in finance, with roles at ATR, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Alstom Transport, and JP Morgan.
Since the launch of Airbus Venturing Platform, the aircraft manufacturer has developed a taste for corporate venturing. In 2015, Airbus established a Silicon Valley-based fund, dubbed Airbus Group Ventures, worth $150m, as well as a technology and business innovation centre in California.
The fund, which is separate from Keïta’s team, will be investing in technologies related to aviation under Tim Dombrowski, who was appointed CEO of Airbus Group Ventures after previously being a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he focused on enterprise portfolio company development. He was also director of global business development at HP.
