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

Joby Aviation has reached a tentative deal with investor and Saudi Arabian conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) to distribute up to 200 electric aircraft valued at about $1 billion over the coming years. If finalized, the partnership could provide Joby with a fast path to monetizing its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles in Saudi Arabia. “A question that folks have asked is, how are you going to monetize, and how quickly is that going to happen?” Paul Sciarra, the executive chairman of Joby’s board who’s most known for co-founding Pinterest, told TechCrunch. “And I think what this shows is that with direct sales, there is a way to get to scale earlier for lower cost by thinking about distributor partners in given geographies. And this is the first of what we hope are a number of announcements on that front.” The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore a distribution agreement Tuesday. And while an MoU is not exactly a signed and sealed deal, source ... Read full article.