Brian Flynn

Brian Charles Flynn, Jr. is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of DiamondStream Partners, a firm he leads alongside co-founder and fellow former-CEO Dean Donovan. DiamondStream invests in and helps build travel- and aviation-related companies, with a particular thesis around businesses poised to benefit from the advent of hybrid-electric and next-generation aviation. Flynn is described as a former CEO himself, and he brings an operating background as well as an investing one to the firm.

Before founding DiamondStream, Flynn co-founded Volaris (NYSE: VLRS), which grew into Mexico's largest airline, and he co-founded Casino Marketing Alliance (also referenced as DiamondStream Analytics), a travel-analytics firm. Earlier in his career he served as CEO of Innova Corporation, a telecom equipment company where he led a turnaround that is credited with generating an approximately 22x return for investors. He was previously a Managing Director at Bachow & Associates — then the largest private equity fund in Philadelphia — where he focused on thematic investing in wireless/cellular technology and services.

Flynn began his career in professional services and finance, working as a consultant at Bain & Company, in investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), and in finance at GE Capital. This mix of consulting, banking, corporate finance, and operating leadership underpins DiamondStream's hands-on, thesis-driven approach to backing aviation companies.

Academically, Flynn is a Beta Gamma Sigma graduate of Columbia Business School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College. He was also a General Course student at the London School of Economics.

• Invests thematically in "aerial and related mobility businesses," targeting travel and aviation companies with solid growth prospects in existing markets that can accelerate on new technology trends.
• Core thesis centers on the shift toward hybrid-electric and next-generation aviation — substituting car and truck trips with electrically powered air trips, and backing the aircraft, propulsion, drones, and software enabling that transition.
• Focuses primarily on early-to-middle-stage companies with real growth prospects, taking an active, build-alongside-the-founder posture rather than passive checks.
• Sector concentration in electric/hybrid-electric aircraft, autonomous and uncrewed aerial systems, advanced propulsion, predictive maintenance, and aviation/travel software.
• Geographic preference for the US, Europe, and other English-speaking markets.