Joby Aviation, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, raised $590 million in Series C funding for its development of an electric air taxi.
Joby Aviation is working on an all-electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft for the launch of the emerging on-demand urban air taxi market. The company says its aircraft is capable of speeds of 200 miles per hour and can fly over 150 miles on a single charge.
“We are building a new system for transportation to transform your daily life, at greater safety and, in time, at a similar cost to driving,” said Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. “This collaboration with Toyota represents an unprecedented commitment of money and resources for us and this new industry from one of the world’s leading automakers. Toyota is known globally for the quality and reliability of their products driven by meticulous attention to detail and manufacturing processes. I am excited to harness Toyota’s engineering and manufacturing prowess helping to drive us to achieve our dream of saving a billion people an hour a day.”
The funding round was led by Toyota Motor Corporation. Prior investors, including SPARX Group, Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures, also contributed to the round, and were joined by new investors Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx (ALJ family’s investment arm). Shigeki Tomoyama, the Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation, will join Joby Aviation’s board of directors.
Joby Aviation has now raised $720 million to date.
