Joby Aviation will merge with special purpose acquisition company Reinvent Technology Partners (RTP) in a deal that provides the Santa Cruz, California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer with approximately $1.6 billion in cash, resulting in a post-money valuation of $6.6 billion.
The transaction, expected to close in Q2 of 2021, will see Joby Aviation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as the company continues working toward its long-term vision of saving a billion people an hour a day via quiet, affordable electric vertical flight. Contributors to the $835 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) include Uber Technologies, The Baupost Group, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research LLC, and Baillie Gifford.
Long considered the leader in eVTOL aircraft development, Joby Aviation has flown its full-scale production prototype more than 700 times and is the first and only known eVTOL company to have received airworthiness approval from the U.S. Air Force and agreed upon a certification basis for its aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration. The G-1 certification basis is expected to be published in the Federal Register in the next few months.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and co-director of RTP, will join Joby Aviation’s board of directors once the transaction closes. Hoffman is known to be a vocal proponent of safe autonomous mobility; in 2018, through venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he invested in Pittsburgh-based Aurora Technologies, which later absorbed Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group.
The full story is available on eVTOL.com.
