Alaska Star Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Alaska Star Ventures (ASV) is the corporate venture capital arm of Alaska Airlines, launched in October 2021 to invest in technologies that help the airline reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Head of Corporate Development Pasha Saleh, a 37-year Alaska pilot who now leads the venture arm, has framed the mandate as a "Kennedy moment": Alaska set ambitious climate goals before the technology to hit them existed, so ASV exists to fund and de-risk that technology. The firm treats decarbonization as a wedge into entirely new industries rather than a compliance exercise, and evaluates opportunities against a Three Horizons framework spanning near-term operational efficiency, mid-term fleet evolution, and long-term propulsion and fuel breakthroughs.
Stage Focus
ASV invests opportunistically across Series A through Series C, generally as a strategic co-investor rather than an initiator of rounds. Confirmed stages include JetZero's Series A (2024), Twelve's Series C (2024), and Loft Dynamics' Series B (2025). It also seeded its aviation-technology exposure through an early, and still-held, investment in ZeroAvia dating to 2021.
Check Size
ASV does not publicly disclose a standard check size range for direct investments. Its inaugural move was a $15M LP commitment into UP.Partners' $230M mobility-focused venture fund, giving it indirect exposure to a wider mobility portfolio (Skydio, Beta Technologies, UnitX) alongside its direct bets. Total capital deployed across its program is reported at roughly $90M.
Lead Tendency
ASV follows more often than it leads. Loft Dynamics' Series B was led by the Friedkin Group; Twelve's $645M round was led by TPG Rise Climate with Capricorn Investment Group and Pulse Fund co-leading the Series C tranche; JetZero's Series A did not name Alaska as lead. ASV's structural role is closer to strategic/commercial co-investor with a customer relationship attached.
Recent Activity
ASV has been steadily active since 2021, layering a "crawl-walk-run" approach: first committing LP capital to UP.Partners (2021), then building direct investments in ZeroAvia (2021), JetZero (August 2024), Twelve (September 2024), and most recently Loft Dynamics (August 2025). It also runs UP.Labs, a venture-studio collaboration, as a third leg alongside fund commitments and direct checks. Diana Birkett Rakow, SVP of Public Affairs and Sustainability, is the executive sponsor and public voice for several of these announcements.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable direct holdings include JetZero (blended-wing-body aircraft targeting up to 50% lower fuel burn, backed by the U.S. Air Force and NASA as well), Twelve (CO2-to-jet-fuel "E-Jet" sustainable aviation fuel, with Alaska also signing an offtake agreement), ZeroAvia (hydrogen-electric propulsion for regional aircraft, including a Q400 retrofit partnership), Loft Dynamics (FAA/EASA-qualified VR flight simulators, co-developing the first Boeing 737 VR simulator with Alaska), and Assaia (AI-based computer vision for airport turnaround operations). ASV's LP position in UP.Partners' $230M fund gives it further indirect exposure to the broader mobility-tech landscape.
Team
- Pasha Saleh, Head of Corporate Development — leads Alaska Star Ventures; 37-year Alaska Airlines pilot turned corporate development executive; frames the mandate around operationalizing sustainability technology ("if it can't be operationalised, then it's not useful").
- Diana Birkett Rakow, SVP Public Affairs and Sustainability — executive sponsor of the sustainability mandate underlying ASV; quoted spokesperson on the firm's largest announcements (JetZero, Twelve).
Decision Process
ASV operates as a corporate venture arm inside Alaska Airlines rather than an independent partnership. Diligence pulls in Alaska's own operational and sustainability teams early, and the firm references customer advisory boards to pressure-test commercial applicability before committing capital — consistent with an internal investment-committee-style process rather than a solo-GP or classic outside-partnership structure.
Founder Preferences
ASV favors teams building technology with a credible, near-term path to certification (FAA/EASA) and to operational deployment inside a major U.S. airline's fleet and network — not speculative or purely research-stage aviation concepts. Saleh's "crawl-walk-run" framing (fund commitments, then direct investment, then venture-studio collaboration via UP.Labs) suggests ASV prefers to build a working relationship with a space before writing a larger direct check.
Geographic Focus
Primarily U.S.-based portfolio companies with select international exposure — Loft Dynamics is headquartered in both Santa Monica, CA and Zurich, Switzerland, and ZeroAvia's investment and technology partnership spans U.S. and U.K. operations. ASV's own base is Seattle, WA, alongside Alaska Airlines' headquarters.