© Reuters. Signage is seen on the Joby Aviation Air Taxi outdoors the New York Inventory Trade (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photograph
(Reuters) – British funding administration agency Baillie Gifford will make investments $180 million in electrical plane maker Joby Aviation, they mentioned on Wednesday.
This comes days after Joby clinched a $55 million contract extension to ship as much as 9 air taxis to the U.S. Air Drive, marking the corporate’s first revenue-generating operations.
Not like different electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown (eVTOL) producers, which plan to promote plane to prospects similar to airways and logistics corporations, Joby’s enterprise mannequin is much like a rideshare app.
“It will be significant as long-term buyers – much more so in a difficult atmosphere – that we preserve our strategy of backing transformational corporations to construct new progress industries,” a Baillie Gifford spokesperson mentioned in a press release.
The British funding agency are additionally buyers in Elon Musk-led electrical car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc and on-line retailer Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:).
The funding is anticipated to shut on Could 5, Baillie Gifford and Joby mentioned on Wednesday.
Joby additionally reported money and short-term marketable securities of $978 million on the finish of the primary quarter, earlier than the funding.
As soon as licensed, the EVTOL maker will compete in a crowded market with dozens of different builders similar to Archer Aviation and Vertical Aerospace Ltd vying to revamp city transportation.
