Joby Makes History: Massive Funding, Gravity Defying Design, Jobs

Joby Aviation makes history: a $590M Series C round, including $394M by Toyota Motor Co., is moving the startup and the emerging electric flight industry into view. After years of leaked designs to throw off competitors, the new model boasts speeds of 200 mph, a range of 150+ miles, noise reductions and carbon neutrality. Ramping up production with 141 new jobs available today, Joby is poised to one of the first flight services to launch.

The deal makes Joby Aviation the highest funded company in Santa Cruz County, and the best-funded electric vertical take-off and landing startup.

Toyota Motor Co. is making a $394 million investment in Joby Aviation, one of the handful of companies with the seemingly implausible goal of making electric air taxis that shuttle people over gridlocked highways and city streets.

Toyota is the lead investor in Joby’s $590 million Series C funding, alongside Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx and prior backers Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, SPARX Group and its own investment arm, Toyota AI Ventures. The deal, for now, makes the Santa Cruz, California-based Joby the best-funded “eVTOL” (electric vertical take-off and landing) startup in a booming category that must overcome significant regulatory hurdles and concerns about passenger safety and noise, bringing the total money it has raised to $720 million.

“Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky,” said Toyota President and Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda. “As we take up the challenge of air transportation together with Joby, an innovator in the emerging eVTOL space, we tap the potential to revolutionize future transportation and life.”

Over the past year, the 82-year Japanese automaker has deepened its interests in futuristic transportation technologies. Last year it backed Recogni Inc., a Silicon Valley maker of autonomous vehicle systems, and May Mobility, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based operator of self-driving shuttle buses. At the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, Toyota announced its intention to build a 175-acre community, or  “Woven City”, at the base of Mount Fuji to serve as a showcase for self-driving cars and other innovations in transportation.

There are over 140 jobs immediately available for those who want to be part of this historic Santa Cruz company. See them here at Santa Cruz Works Jobs.

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