Boeing to spin off venture capital arm HorizonX

Boeing said on Thursday it plans to spin off its venture capital arm, HorizonX, to forge a broader external investment fund, in a deal said by sources to value the unit at several hundred million dollars. Under the deal, AE Industrial Partners, a specialist private equity firm, will add fresh capital to the portfolio born out of Boeing’s decision to set up its own venture fund in 2017. “The partnership with AEI and future partners broadens our investor base, enables HorizonX to invest at a rapid pace and gives Boeing access to more outside innovation than ever through this investment collaboration,” Boeing Chief Strategy Officer Marc Allen said. The move accelerates efforts by Boeing to deepen the pipeline of technology available to the US aerospace giant, and will ease the burden of supporting future growth of HorizonX, which has invested in more than a dozen companies. HorizonX “needs to go faster and needs a bigger capital pile to invest in more companies,” a person familiar with the deal said. Boeing will remain a strategic investor with a “significant majority” stake in the initial fund to be created from the spinoff, which is expected to be named AE HorizonX, the person said. It will continue to hold smaller stakes in any follow-on funds bringing in more entrepreneurial capital. Under the deal, Boeing will contribute the HorizonX portfolio, valued by industry sources at several hundred million dollars. It will also provide a specialist industrial perspective and receive preferential access to innovations developed by portfolio companies.<br/>