All-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft startup secures $100 million in funding

There’s now a lot of money flowing into all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Joby Aviation, a startup based in California, announced today that it secured $100 million in funding from some major investors.

The announcement follows Lilium Aviation raising $90 million to bring its eVTOL aircraft to market and Daimler leading a $30 million investment in another startup with a similar aircraft.

This new round of financing for Joby Aviation brought their total funding to over $130 million and attracted some big-name investors, including the venture arms of Intel, JetBlue, and Toyota.

Wendell Brooks, president of Intel Capital, commented on the announcement:

“Intel believes the future of transportation is data-driven – whether you’re talking about autonomous cars or next-generation air travel. Joby Aviation has been laser-focused on delivering a unique vehicle into the market. This is a truly disruptive technology with the potential to push the geographic boundaries of where people can live and work.”

Joby says that it has a working prototype of a 5-seat vehicle, which it claims will be “faster than existing rotorcraft, fly at least 150 miles on a charge, and be 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing, and near-silent in flyover.”

They plan to use the aircraft to “solve the problem of city congestion and long commute times.”

Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt added:

“People waste billions of hours sitting on roads worldwide each year. We envision a future where commuting by eVTOL is a safer, faster, and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation. We have spent the last ten years developing the technologies that have made our full-scale technical demonstrator possible and are now ready to build a commercial version of the aircraft. We’re excited to have attracted the backing of leaders in auto manufacturing, data intelligence, and transportation sectors.”

A quick LinkedIn search shows that the startup is staffed by aerospace engineers, software engineers, and many people with experience with batteries.

The company is now listing dozens of new jobs and it is still working on product development and flight certification.