Veena Rao | Head of Portfolio Management
Aerospace Xelerated/Boeing

Veena is Head of Portfolio Management at Aerospace Xelerated, an accelerator program that is managed by the Global Accelerators & Innovation Programs team at Boeing. Since 2019, Aerospace Xelerated has worked with diverse industry, corporate, and government partners to provide investment, mentorship, and support for startups and SMEs, developing scalable and sustainable solutions for the aerospace industry and beyond.  AX has supported 40+ companies across 12 different verticals and 14 countries worldwide. The portfolio of companies has raised £200M in additional funding beyond the initial £100,000 equity investment into each and created 750+ new, high-skilled jobs. Veena has worked on teams across Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), Boeing Defense, Space, & Security (BDS), and Boeing Global Services (BGS). She believes that it is important to understand and embrace disruptive innovation so it can be viewed as an opportunity, rather than a threat. She is passionate about fostering innovation through exploring global start-up ecosystems and working closely with start-up founders through Aerospace Xelerated. She has a deep appreciation for the sciences, having received her Bachelors of Science degree in Economics, as well as having previously published clinical research at Mayo Clinic. Veena is currently based in Seattle, Washington.