“…A few months ago, we published an article about SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) and the strong influence they were having in the growing advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. Now that influence is materializing in the form of millions poured into research & development (R&D) of these non-traditional aerial platforms. On August 21st Archer aviation announced that it is confirming the proposed business combination with Atlas Crest Investment Corp. (NYSE: ACIC) (“Atlas Crest”), a SPAC. This business combination was first announced in February as a potential Q2 2021 deal, and even though it took one more quarter to materialize, in a few short weeks, Archer will be a public company.
A similar situation happened with Joby Aviation, which on August 10th started trading under the ticker “JOBY” after combining with Reinvent Technology Partners, a SPAC run by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Marc Pincus.
Both Archer and Joby are at least a few years from picking up their first passengers, but the AAM sector has minted its first billionaire: Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. Just one day after the first share was officially traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the price closed 5.8% higher at $10.90, giving the company a market capitalization of $6.8 billion, and Bevirt, 47, a fortune worth $1.08 billion given his 98.7 million shares...”