SPACs have continued their hot run this year as the preferred way to bring companies to the public market. 144 SPACs have gone public so far this year, or an average of five per day, according to Goldman Sachs’ Ben Snider.
With a SPAC named Just Another Acquisition Corp. filing for an IPO last week, there’s not much left to be surprised about in the SPAC space. The latest SPAC announcement will see air taxi startup Joby Aviation go public through a reverse merger with Reinvent Technology Partners in a deal valuing the combined company at $6.6 billion.
The deal will give Joby $1.6 billion in gross proceeds to continue development of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft. Touting its “first-mover advantage,” Joby intends to use the proceeds to fund the business through the beginning of commercial operations, which Joby expects in the U.S. in 2024 before expanding globally.
Joby, which has already logged more than 1,000 test flights in its eVTOL aircraft, is the first company to agree to a certification basis for an eVTOL aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration and the first to receive an airworthiness approval for an eVTOL aircraft from the U.S. Air Force.