Joby Aviation close to $5.7bn SPAC deal

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Joby Aviation is close to a deal which will value the company at $5.7bn, according to the Financial Times. The eVTOL company is in talks to go public via a merger with blank check company Reinvent Technology Partners.

Reinvent was formed by Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn founder and Marc Pincus, founder of video game developer Zynga and raised $690m in a public listing in 2020. It was reported that an agreement could be expected later this month.

According to evtol.com, Reinvent will invest a total – private investment in public equity (PIPE) included – to $1-1.5bn.

Joby is currently backed by Toyota and investment manager Baillie Gifford. The deal also comes shortly after Joby acquired the Uber Elevate ecosystem in December 2020. That deal brought total investment in Joby to $820m.

The aerospace innovation space has been of great interest to investors in recent months. German air taxi company Lilium is in talks with SPAC Qell Acquisition Corp, according to evtol.com.

Archer, the eVTOL start-up, announced it is going public via Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) at $3.8bn. United Airlines has placed an order worth $1bn for its first 200 eVTOLs.

Before that, a new SPAC, New Vista Acquisition Corp, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise $200m in an initial public offering. This is the latest SPAC which intends “to focus our search for a target business operating in the aviation, aerospace and defence industries”.

Also in December 2020, Helicopter operator Blade Urban Air Mobility said it was going public via SPAC, valued at $825m.