Looking to reinforce their innovation and transformation focused strategy, French aerospace and defense leader Safran has announced that they’re launching a €50 million corporate venture fund. The investment period of the fund will span 3 years and will focus on innovative startups aerospace, defense and security industries.
Safran Corporate Ventures will seek to invest in startups launching new innovations for highly technological sectors, including :
- Advanced materials
- Robotics and new manufacturing processes
- Networked sensors and data analysis
- Energy production, distribution, transmission and storage systems for aircraft and other vehicles
- Solutions and technologies for identification and authentication of people and connected objects
The new fund will be overseen by Jean-Pierre Cojan, Safran’s Executive Vice President, Strategy and Transformation, and led by entrepreneur and VC veteran Grégoire Aladjidi and Safran M&A expert Hélène de Cointet. In addition to supporting the development of startups via direct investment, they’ll also seek to facilitate commercial/development agreements between their portfolio companies and Safran’s businesess.
Initially, the geographic scope of the fund will be limited to Europe and North America, but will eventually expand to other regions.