AeroCloud appoints independent board member to support mission
AeroCloud, a global intelligent airport management platform, has announced the appointment of Travis Kimmel as an independent advisor to the CEO and the board. This follows a successful $12.6 million Series A funding round in 2023.
Travis Kimmel is renowned for his expertise in scaling software businesses sustainably. As the co-founder and former CEO of GitPrime, a cloud-based productivity and analytics solution, he significantly increased the company's revenue each year until its acquisition by Pluralsight in 2019 for $170 million. Subsequently, he served as President at financial media and education platform, RealVision, and more recently, as GM at Lattice under Jack Altman.
Kimmel will leverage his extensive entrepreneurial and engineering background to provide strategic advice to AeroCloud’s CEO, George Richardson. His goal is to solidify AeroCloud's status as the premier provider of cloud-native SaaS management for airports and to fulfill its ambition of becoming the top market leader in airport technology. Kimmel advocates for a boardroom presence that comprehends and champions the engineering and R&D viewpoints.
Commenting on his new role, Travis Kimmel, New Board Member at AeroCloud, said: “It’s common for founders to find that the stakes get higher following a Series A funding raise. Large amounts of capital are entering the business and this adds pressure in the form of more criteria to meet. Focus increasingly turns towards operationalisation, efficiency, and elements such as revenue per employee and growth strategy. Navigating this pivotal moment in a company’s growth is challenging for a CEO, and I am a huge believer, having had fantastic support when growing my own business, of the positive role that board members can play as an ally, an advocate and an advisor.
“AeroCloud is in a compelling position as it is disrupting an industry that has very few similar upstart players, despite being ripe for disruption. In addition, George is the best person to lead AeroCloud in the mission to revolutionise the sector. He’s ambitious and has the drive that makes an exceptional entrepreneur. I’m looking forward to working with and supporting him in navigating AeroCloud through its next stage of growth.”
AeroCloud has seen significant growth in its mission to become the leading automation software provider for small and medium-sized airports globally. In its three years of operation, the company has established partnerships with over 47 airports, including notable ones like Minneapolis St Paul, Manchester, and Tampa International Airport. In 2023, AeroCloud expanded its airport customer base, with its software now managing over 190 million passengers annually.
George Richardson, CEO of AeroCloud, remarked: “As we continue to push to new heights in AI-driven airport management technology, Travis’s expertise in building and scaling a successful software business will be invaluable in the form of guidance to the leadership team. He had an incredible journey with GitPrime, which much like AeroCloud was a business idea born out of using tech to solve an operational problem, and since then has been influential in his roles as President and GM of RealVision and Lattice respectively.
“The search was vast with a huge commitment of time to find the right person, I am super glad we landed Travis. I am certain that his experience will be instrumental in securing AeroCloud’s position as the leading technology provider that empowers airports, streamlines operations and enhances the overall passenger experience.”
Travis Kimmel's appointment comes amid AeroCloud’s recent senior team expansion, including Uri Guterman as VP of Product in October 2023, and Jeff Gore as VP of Sales in December 2023.
Richardson added: “Senior people who have seen the movie three times before are essential as we build the team. The pace that the business is growing at is crazy and without key people in place, we wouldn’t be able to scale as fast. As we look to the future the demand on the team is only becoming greater and sharing ownership across all the functions that we have is key to our success.”