Joby Aero has announced the full composition of its board of directors ahead of the August 5 extraordinary general meeting of shareholders that is expected to confirm its merger with special purpose acquisition company Reinvent Technology Partners. Following completion of the transaction, the new combined company will trade under the name Joby Aviation and be publicly traded under the symbol “JOBY.”
Assuming the transaction is approved, the following directors will join Joby’s board: Reid Hoffman, co-lead director of Reinvent Technology Partners and co-founder of LinkedIn; Halimah DeLaine Prado, general counsel for Google; and former Southwest Airlines CFO Laura Wright. Since December 2020, Joby has recruited two other directors to its board: Aicha Evans, CEO of autonomous vehicle developer Zoox, which Amazon acquired in 2020; and James Kuffner, who is CEO of Woven Plant Holdings and also a board director and operating officer for Toyota Motor Company, which is a leading investor in Joby.
In addition to founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt, Joby’s board includes executive chairman Paul Sciarra, who was the first outside investor in the California-based start-up, and Dipender Saluja, who is managing director of Capricorn Investment Group, which led Joby’s 2016 Series A funding round. “We are incredibly humbled to have been able to assemble such a remarkable and diverse group of world-class leaders to guide and support Joby as we plan to enter the public market,” Bevirt commented. “Each of these individuals is exceptionally accomplished in their respective fields and we’re grateful that they have chosen to lend us their expertise.”
The planned merger with Reinvent was announced in late February, with an expectation that the share flotation will raise $1.6 billion in fresh capital to support plans to bring a five-passenger eVTOL aircraft into commercial service during 2024. Joby has indicated that it expects the deal to result in a post-money equity valuation for the new company of around $6.6 billion.
