Joby Aviation builds eVTOL aircraft intended for commercial air taxi service in urban areas. The company is in the fourth of five stages of the FAA Type 2 certification process and aims to launch a commercial business in 2025. Joby recently rolled its third aircraft off a pilot production line in Marina, California, and broke ground on an expanded facility to more than double its manufacturing footprint. The company was founded in 2009 by JoeBen Bevirt and became more visible after acquiring Uber’s Elevate program and later announcing a SPAC deal to go public with Reinvent Technology Partners. Toyota has been a long-term partner, sharing the Toyota Production System and embedding engineers with Joby, and in 2023 signed a long-term agreement to supply key powertrain and actuation components. The new capital is intended to support completion of certification and commercial production efforts. Joby Aviation develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and plans to operate short urban and airport air‑taxi services using shared five‑seat vehicles. The company secured an FAA Part 135 Air Carrier certificate allowing on‑demand commercial air taxi operations, but still must obtain Type Certification for its aircraft and Production Certification for its facilities before full launch. Joby has partnerships to support vertiport access, including Reef Technologies for parking‑garage conversions and initial plans to tap existing helipads in New York and Los Angeles for the Delta service. It also has a booking integration with Uber that can surface Joby rides in the Uber app. Joby is pursuing commercialization through operator partnerships (notably Delta) to address infrastructure and airport integration hurdles. The article also notes Joby’s defense contracting activity expanded to include the U.S. Marines under its U.S. Air Force contract. Joby Aviation is building an all-electric, vertical take-off-and-landing passenger aircraft aimed at commercial air‑taxi service. The company was an early vehicle partner for Uber’s Elevate initiative and was the first partner to commit to deploying services by 2023. Under the announced deal Joby is acquiring Uber Elevate’s assets, including team members and software tools, to accelerate its path to commercial launch. As part of the transaction Uber is investing $75 million in Joby, in addition to a previously undisclosed $50 million that Uber put in as part of Joby’s January 2020 Series C. Joby raised $590 million led by Toyota to launch its electric air‑taxi service and has raised $820 million to date. The companies agreed to integrate their respective services into each other’s apps, and the deal is expected to close in early 2021. Joby Aviation is developing in-house piloted eVTOL aircraft designed for an electric air taxi service, targeting city-based short-hop transit for people and cargo. Its production prototype can fly up to 200 miles per hour for over 150 miles on a single charge and is described as roughly 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing. Joby has completed sub-scale testing and begun full flight tests of production prototypes, and it started the FAA certification process at the end of 2018. The company aims to achieve cost advantages versus traditional helicopters through higher utilization and electric drivetrain savings, ultimately making short aerial flights more accessible. Joby is working with strategic partner Toyota to leverage the automaker’s vehicle manufacturing experience as it scales production. The company was founded in 2009 by JoeBen Bevirt and is based in Santa Cruz, California. Joby Aviation is developing a fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft: a near-silent 5-seat vehicle that can fly 150 miles on a charge. The company plans to use new funding to advance the aircraft to pre-production and certification. It will expand its team with hires in structural engineering, electrical engineering, power electronics, battery electrochemistry, certification, flight controls, and software. The company has raised more than $130M in total funding following the latest round. Joby was founded in 2009 by CEO JoeBen Bevirt and maintains offices in Santa Cruz and Redwood City, California. The new capital is intended to accelerate development toward air-transportation-as-a-service.

Total raised

$1.3B

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Oct 2024