Joby Aviation electric air taxi has agreed to buy the Blade Air Mobility Rideshare Business helicopter for as much as $ 125 million.
Joby buys the Blade brand and the company’s passenger business, which includes businesses in the United States and Europe. Blade Rob Wiesenthal’s founder and chief executive will continue to lead the business, which will operate as a subsidiary of Joby.
The BLADE medical department, which carries organs, is not included in the transaction and will remain a separate company.
The deal gives immediate access to a network of 12 terminals in basic markets such as New York – mainly, a dedicated lounge as well as terminal bases at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty Airport, Manhattan’s west side, east side of Manhattan and Wall Street.
Blade, founded in 2014, does not hold aircraft fleet. Instead, the company has developed a digital network that allows passengers to book private helicopters on various small hop routes. The service has increased in popularity, as well as customers who are well looking for are looking for ways to avoid traffic from the suburbs to Manhattan or Hamptons for weekends and vacations. The company, which also offers access to routes from Nice, France, Monaco and Saint-Tropez, threw more than 50,000 passengers in 2024.
The founder and CEO of Joby Aviation Joeben Bevirt described the agreement as a “strategically important” acquisition that will support the launch of its commercial activities in Dubai and the subsequent global development. The company said it would incorporate its software, designed to manage taxi businesses in the Blade Passenger Service.
Joby, founded in 2009 by Bevirt, has been working for more than a decade to develop, certify and produce an electric vertical aircraft take -off and landing for a taxi trading service in cities. (The company is also seeking a separate defense -related business.) Finally, the branded Blade service will use electric taxi, not helicopters, in its service, according to companies.
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Toyota-confused Joby was publicly made in 2021 through a merger with the Reinvent Technology Partners, a special purpose acquisition company supported by co-founder Linkedin Reid Hoffman and the founder of Zynga Mark Pincus.
Under the terms of the agreement, Joby holds $ 35 million on the market price, which will be released if Blade hit some milestones from performance and maintains some key employees.
