MUNICH | VIENNA | NEW YORK | September 20, 2024 – Flightkeys GmbH (“Flightkeys”), a leading independent flight management and optimization software player today announced a significant investment by global software investor Insight Partners. Drake Star acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Flightkeys and its shareholders on this transaction.
Founded in 2015, Flightkeys offers a comprehensive suite for flight planning, in-flight monitoring and optimization, and RAIM prediction. The Vienna-based company employs over 100 people and with its fully cloud-native, clean-sheet approach, Flightkeys has been disrupting the flight management market and serves some of the world's largest carriers. By providing mission-critical, user-friendly technology, Flightkeys enables its customers to achieve cost savings and reduce emissions, addressing key industry challenges.
Christoph Prinz, Managing Director at Flightkeys, stated on behalf of Flightkeys’ seven co-founders: “Julian Riedlbauer and his team surpassed our expectations with their deep software sector knowledge, M&A skills and steadfast commitment to client success. They guided us through a highly competitive and complex process and the team’s around-the-clock dedication helped us secure the ideal partner to continue Flightkeys’ growth trajectory.”
Thomas Zimpfer, Managing Director of B&C Group, which has accompanied Flightkeys on its growth path as lead investor since 2016, added: "Flightkeys is an Austrian role model company and a success story for its founders as well as for B&C: The B&C Group has accompanied Flightkeys on its growth path as lead investor since 2016. Today, Flightkeys is a world market leader and a great example for high-tech and software competence from Austria. At the same time, Flightkeys represents a perfect example for our ambition at B&C to act as a partner and to enable Austrian tech companies to grow and prosper. The completed transaction is a milestone in this successful development.”
Insight Partners has agreed to acquire a significant stake in Flightkeys to support the company through the next phase of its growth journey. All managing shareholders will retain stakes in Flightkeys and remain in their management roles, underscoring their commitment to supporting the company’s vision in the years ahead.
Henry Frankievich, Managing Director at Insight Partners, said: "We are very excited to be partnering with Flightkeys’ founders in their mission to bring modern, cloud-based flight planning software to the aviation industry. At Insight, our goal is to find and partner with founders who are driving visionary, positive change in their industries. The Flightkeys team is highly experienced in aviation and built a solution that is rapidly becoming the market-standard for flight planning operations globally – ultimately making aviation more efficient, cleaner, and safer for the benefit of all.”
Julian Riedlbauer, Partner at Drake Star, commented: “We are thrilled to have worked with Flightkeys' seasoned and strong founder team and B&C on this landmark transaction. The company has built an outstanding product, and the growth of the business is impressive. Flightkeys’ new partnership with Insight Partners is incredibly exciting and the market potential is enormous. We are very happy for the team and wish them all the best for the next chapter.”
Drake Star Team: Julian Riedlbauer, Maximilian von Bodman, Julian Wolf, Christopher von Eickstedt
Inquiries
For further inquiries, please contact:
Julian Riedlbauer
julian.riedlbauer@drakestar.com, +49 172 661 57 59
About Flightkeys Group
Flightkeys and its subsidiary companies Spacekeys and Skykeys develop and market software to optimize flight routes (Trajectory Optimization) and flight schedules in real time for the aviation industry as well as systems to assess GPS satellite signals and a cockpit application to optimize flight trajectories regarding costs and emissions. By doing so, the group is a global leader in considering condensation trails in flight planning and execution. Founded in April 2015, the company with its headquarters in Vienna employs 110 experts. Flightkeys is already a market leader in the U.S. and has clients among well-known U.S. and European carriers.
For more information, visit: www.flightkeys.com.
About B&C Group
The B&C Private Foundation (www.bcprivatstiftung.at) is an independent foundation. Since its inception in December 2000, its goal has been to foster Austrian entrepreneurship and strengthen Austria’s position as a business hub. B&C acts as a stable core shareholder in Austrian industrial companies through its holding companies, the B&C Group (www.bcgruppe.at). B&C is core shareholder of Lenzing AG (37.25%) and holds majority stakes in Semperit AG Holding (54.2%) and AMAG Austria Metall AG (52.7%). Through B&C Innovation Investments, B&C Group has been investing in tech-driven growth companies since 2016. It currently holds stakes in Awake Mobility, Citrine, Contextflow, Flightkeys, Frequentis, Kinexon, Klarx, Neoom, ParityQC, TriLite und TTTech.
For more information, visit: www.bcgruppe.at.
About Insight Partners
Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2024, the firm has over $80B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO.
For more information, visit: www.insightpartners.com.
About Drake Star
Drake Star is an award-winning global tech investment bank that has completed over 500 transactions since 2003. The Drake Star global team of experienced professionals and senior advisors across offices in New York, Munich, London, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, and Dubai* focuses on mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance services worldwide in Software/SaaS, HR Tech, Digital Services, FinTech, Digital Media, Industrial Tech, Consumer & Retail Tech and Mobility & Sustainability.
Drake Star is the marketing name for the global investment bank Drake Star Partners Limited and its subsidiaries and affiliates. In the USA, all securities are transacted through Drake Star Securities LLC. In the USA, Drake Star Securities LLC is regulated by FINRA and is a member of SIPC. Drake Star UK Limited (FRN 942020) is an appointed representative of Razlin Ltd (FRN 730805), which is authorized and regulated by the FCA. This testimonial was given by a client. The testimonial is no guarantee of future performance or success. This is not a paid testimonial and no material conflicts of interest exist between the person(s) providing the testimonial and Drake Star. © 2024 Drake Star Partners Limited.
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