Joby Aviation debuts on the NYSE – TechCrunch

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Joby Aviation is now public, 12 years after JoeBen Bevirt founded the company on his ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The air taxi developer began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol “JOBY,” after completing a merger with special-purpose acquisition firm Reinvent Technology Partners.

At 10:00 am ET, the price per share was $ 11.01, up 9.8% from its closing amount the previous day.

Joby’s post-trade valuation now stands at $ 4.5 billion, the largest in the industry. He also now has the highest cash balance. In total, Joby has total capital of approximately $ 1.6 billion to drive its air taxi operations to commercialization in 2024. This includes $ 835 million of private investment in public capital, as well as over $ 500 million in capital on the balance sheet. .

RTP reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that about 63% of the 69 million common shares had been repurchased before public trading began, giving Joby access to $ 255 million of the $ 690 million in cash held in trust by the blank check company.

It’s a huge amount, but creating a whole new form of transportation is a capital intensive endeavor. Joby’s executive chairman Paul Sciarra told TechCrunch he believes $ 1.6 billion will be enough to prepare the company for launch.

“We think that’s enough to run the things that matter over the next few years, and these are […] a, make sure we are running the certification program; second, to show that we can demonstrate our ability to repeatedly manufacture these airplanes in a certifiable manner; and then third and finally, the opportunity to lay the groundwork for a commercial launch, ”said Sciarra.

Joby is developing an electric five-seat vertical take-off and landing plane, which he unveiled with great anticipation in February. The company, which has the backing of Toyota and JetBlue, has released a slew of announcements in recent months as it prepares for public listing.

“A lot of people talk about us as a secret business,” Bevirt said in an interview with TechCrunch. “We’re not actually a secret company, we just choose to do the work and show our work, rather than talk about it and then do it. “

From $ RTP to $ JOBY

Joby’s merger with blank check firm Reinvent, run by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, was announced in February. The transaction includes some provisions to ensure a longer-term collaboration, including a blocking of founder’s shares for up to five years, as well as a purchase provision with an unrealized earn-out until the price per share reaches $ 50 – a market cap of $ 30 billion.

PSPCs are not a new instrument for going public, but they have gained a widespread presence in the transportation space, especially among eVTOL startups looking to secure sums of capital. Archer Aviation was the first developer to announce its merger with a blank check company, followed by Joby, Lilium and Vertical Aerospace. But there are signs that the investment bubble could start to deflate: At the end of last month, Archer reduced its valuation by $ 1 billion in a “strategic reset” of trading conditions with Atlas Crest Investment Corp.

Such turbulence is not uncommon in markets populated by pre-income companies. But although it is now a state-owned company – and shareholders to respond to – Sciarra said Joby’s task remains unchanged. “We cannot control the markets,” he said. “[Joby] is a company that has been quietly doing the things that matter for a very long time. I think it will be incumbent on us to do the same during this transition to an open society: tell people what we’re going to do, then go out and do it. It’s, quarter by quarter, what builds credibility, what fights skepticism, and what gives investors and, frankly, the general public, confidence that this is a company that thinks what it is. she says.

One way to define the fate of air taxis is whether they will look more like autonomous vehicles or electric vehicles. About five years ago, the AV space was filled with companies setting lofty expectations for when real self-driving cars would hit the road, only to then see multiple companies collapse or sell under the weight of exceeded expectations. .

But Sciarra suggested that a better analogy to the eVTOL industry as it stands today is from the early days of electric vehicles. He pointed out that Joby’s plane is designed to meet existing safety and certification standards, with a trained pilot on board, similar to how helicopters and airplanes operate today. “We didn’t want to compound the technical risk of developing a new aircraft with the technical and regulatory risk of developing full range from day one.”

“We think our approach is a little more Tesla than, say, Waymo,” he added.



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