An early Joby Aviation backer might soon be its biggest distributor in Saudi Arabia

Joby Aviation has reportedly entered into a preliminary agreement with Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), a prominent Saudi Arabian conglomerate, to distribute up to 200 electric aircraft, a deal valued at approximately $1 billion over the next few years. If finalized, this collaboration could pave the way for Joby to rapidly monetize its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles in the Saudi market. Paul Sciarra, the executive chairman of Joby’s board, and a well-known co-founder of Pinterest, stated, "People have inquired about our monetization strategy and its timeline. This partnership illustrates that through direct sales, we can achieve scalability earlier and at a reduced cost by collaborating with distributor partners in specific regions. This marks the first of many anticipated announcements of this nature." The two entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore this distribution agreement, and while it is not yet a formalized deal, insiders suggest that more detailed information will emerge later this year. Should this agreement proceed, it would represent a pioneering case of an eVTOL startup forming a distributor partnership for its aircraft. Joby also intends to operate its own aircraft in the U.S. and other nations while collaborating with airlines and other carriers in places such as Japan. Sciarra emphasized that ALJ is an exceptional partner due to its longstanding relationship with Toyota, which has recently completed the first $250 million tranche of its total $500 million investment in Joby. ALJ has been the exclusive Toyota distributor in Saudi Arabia since 1955 and ranks among the largest independent distributors of Toyota and Lexus worldwide. Furthermore, ALJ participated in Joby’s 2020 Toyota-led Series C funding round. Sciarra highlighted that ALJ possesses substantial infrastructure on the ground essential for sales, support, pilot training, and maintenance, all of which are crucial for ensuring sustained sales success. With an 80-year history of diversified business operations, ALJ also maintains strong connections with the Saudi government and potential customers involved in projects like the Red Sea Project and the AlUla Project. Despite this promising venture in Saudi Arabia, Joby’s immediate strategy involves launching its services in Dubai next year, followed by a rollout in the U.S. "This partnership demonstrates our strategy to expand our reach beyond initial markets," Sciarra remarked. "Finding the right local partners to assist us in sales and support will enable us to monetize additional geographies faster than we might have anticipated." This development comes against a backdrop of increasing collaboration between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in AI, technology infrastructure, and energy. Recently, Saudi firm DataVolt committed $20 billion to AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the U.S., while American tech giants have pledged a collective $80 billion toward transformative technologies in both nations, as reported by the White House.