Toyota to invest further $500 million in Joby
October 2, 2024
Toyota Motor Corporation is to invest an additional $500 million into Joby Aviation via two equal purchases of stock, with the second tranche supporting what the Californian eVTOL developer terms “a strategic alliance focused on commercial manufacturing”.
This latest investment will bring Toyota’s total investment in Joby to $894 million, with the first tranche to close later this year. The second will be realised in 2025 and will prove instrumental in helping Joby continue its path towards the certification and commercial production of its aircraft.
“Today’s investment builds on nearly seven years of collaboration between our companies,” said Joby Aviation founder and CEOJ JoeBen Bevirt, who cited the “knowledge and support shared by Toyota” as instrumental in Joby’s success to date. In addition to monetary assistance, Toyota has also been investing time and human resources since 2019 to share its knowledge of the Toyota Production System via process planning, manufacturing method development and tooling design.
Toyota engineers currently work alongside Joby’s team in California, and in 2023, the two companies formalised an agreement for Toyota to supply key powertrain and actuation components for the production of Joby’s aircraft.
The new funding represents the continuation of an initial investment made in Joby by Toyota Ventures, the automotive giant’ early-stage venture capital arm, with the Toyota Motor Corporation subsequently completing investments totalling $394 million.
