OpenAir Equity Partners

Investment decisions are led by Managing Directors Ron LeMay, Scott Ford, Lance LeMay, and Kathy Walker. Ron LeMay co-founded the firm after serving as CEO of Sprint PCS and Japan Telecom. Scott Ford previously founded and led Sprint Nextel Ventures, and Lance LeMay founded Kansas City–based venture firm October Capital.

The firm’s sourcing relies on the deep wireless carrier networks its managing directors built during their operating careers at Sprint and related telecom businesses. This carrier-side operator network gives OpenAir early visibility into startups building on connectivity infrastructure that large mobile operators are evaluating for commercial partnerships.

OpenAir operates as a private equity firm managing multiple investment funds — twelve, according to its general counsel — rather than a single-family office. It makes direct early-stage and growth-stage investments in connectivity and data analytics companies, with its partners often holding board seats and actively advising portfolio management teams.

Available information indicates OpenAir makes direct equity investments in operating companies rather than acting as a limited partner in other venture capital funds. The firm’s managing directors regularly serve on portfolio company boards, including Gogo, Zubie, Hyla Mobile, and Pepper.

OpenAir targets early-stage, expansion-stage, and growth-stage companies. Representative investments span from seed and Series A rounds — such as Zubie’s $10 million Series A — through later-stage growth rounds, including C2FO’s $100 million funding round backed by Allianz X and Mubadala.

OpenAir does participate in syndicated rounds with external investors. C2FO’s $100 million round included Allianz X and Mubadala, and Zubie’s early funding involved Nokia. The firm appears to co-invest alongside strategic corporate venture arms and institutional limited partners when syndication aligns with its IoT and connectivity thesis.

No explicit sector exclusions are publicly stated. The portfolio concentrates on connected-car, smart-home, ag-tech, logistics, and mobile-device lifecycle businesses, suggesting a bias toward hardware-enabled, data-rich connectivity investments and away from sectors outside the IoT and wireless analytics domains.