Cathie Wood drops $10 million on next-gen tech stock

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Investors in Joby Aviation (JOBY) stock have been on a wild ride of late, but Cathie Wood used the recent weakness to buy the dip.

The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker is coming off a strong year, spearheaded by positive developments on the business end.

However, following a major capital raise, its stock nosedived, and Wood stepped in to buy 781,519 shares worth more than $10 million through ARK ETFs on Jan. 29.

The move is classic ARK, with Wood often using pullbacks to add to future-focused bets.

It also supports ARK’s long-standing view of the immense potential of “mobility-as-a-service,” with autonomous transport and aerial systems at its center.

Wood has been explicit about the massive long-term opportunity. “We think the air taxi industry is almost here,” she said in a Benzinga interview a few years ago, effectively framing eVTOLs as the next big arena for tech innovation.

Nevertheless, for Joby, the road ahead is uneven.

It was one of the hottest stocks in 2025, but 2026 is a “show me” year for the business as it navigates the most testing phases of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, along with a remarkably expensive ramp toward commercialization.

It’s essentially in a make-or-break situation.

If it clears FAA certification and scales up at an encouraging pace, we could see a ton of upside, but if things go south, the stock could soon start flirting with penny-stock territory.

Cathie Wood makes a $10 million-plus bet on Joby Aviation, boosting attention on the eVTOL maker.Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images · Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

It sounds like a concept pulled from a sci-fi flick, but Joby’s primary goal is to make air taxis a practical, everyday form of transportation.

So in essence, it’s trying to operate a business that’s closer to “Uber in the air” compared to a traditional aerospace manufacturer.

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Its total addressable market is massive, spanning multiple areas.

For instance, ride-hailing alone is already enormous. The global ride-hailing market is currently at $184.49 billion and could reach an eye-popping $392.27 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence.

The eVTOL market, in particular, is forecast by PwC to jump from nearly $11.4 billion in 2024 to a head-turning $87.8 billion by 2034.

Seats: The aircraft can accommodate one pilot plus four passengers (or a 1,000-lb. payload).
Speed: The eVTOL travels at up to 200 mph.
Range: A single charge offers up to 100 miles of travel (optimized for urban routes).
Value proposition: Trips will be up to 10 times faster than driving (per Joby’s internal modeling).
Noise: Joby cites 65 dBA (A-weighted decibels) during takeoff/landing (which is like normal conversation volume) and says NASA has validated noise work.
Source: Joby Aviation SEC filing 10-K

Joby is clearly the bellwether in its niche, but it isn’t alone by any means.

Archer Aviation: Archer is Joby’s biggest competitor, pursuing a piloted eVTOL strategy and already looking to make a high-profile push toward U.S. commercialization.
Wisk Aero: Backed by Boeing, Wisk focuses on autonomous flights and is slugging it out in the FAA certification process.
BETA Technologies: The company is developing electric aircraft to target commercial and defense markets.
Vertical Aerospace: This U.K.-based player is working toward certification later this decade.
XPeng AeroHT: The aviation arm of XPeng continues to impressively advance certification efforts in China.
EHang: It’s focused on autonomous passenger aircraft as it navigates the Chinese regulatory environment.

At the heart of it, Joby’s building an eVTOL that’s designed to efficiently transport riders across congested cities.

Although it isn’t selling those eVTOL rides yet, it’s still building healthy momentum the old-fashioned way. At this time, Joby is looking to stack up real operations, engineering contracts, and pilots in the air as it builds momentum toward full certification.

Joby’s certification progress so far:

Stage 1 (Certification Basis): Joby 100% / FAA 100%
Stage 2 (Means of Compliance): Joby 97% / FAA 97%
Stage 3 (Certification Plans): Joby 77% / FAA 55%
Stage 4 (Testing & Analysis): Joby 10% / FAA 4%
Source: Shareholder Letter Q3 2025

Its bridge to the future is currently Blade’s passenger service, which is now owned by Joby. In Q3 alone, Blade moved nearly 40,000 real riders in New York and Europe, giving Joby a paying customer base before the show even gets on the road.

Additionally, Joby has expanded Blade’s reach by integrating rides into the Uber app, seeding demand ahead of its own eVTOL launch.

From a financial standpoint, things are looking relatively strong: Q3 sales were $22.6 million, and the quarter ended with roughly $978.1 million in cash and investments.

On the certification side of things, Joby’s now also powering its very first FAA-conforming aircraft, with pilot flight and formal FAA “for-credit” flight testing later this year.

As a result, despite a complicated regulatory landscape, Joby’s methodical progress is beginning to pay real dividends.

Despite the promise, Joby is still, for the most part, a speculative play, and the market’s behavior makes that clear.

Though the stock gained a superb 29% last year, it’s been out of favor of late. In the past six months, the stock has tanked 37%, and more than 24% in the past week alone.

A major driver of the recent pullback is dilution, as the company has increased its outstanding share count by nearly 15% over the past year. In addition, it recently priced an upsized offering that included tens of millions of new shares, along with $600 million in convertible notes, reported Investing.com.

On top of that, Joby stock’s beta value of 2.6 indicates it has moved more than 2.5 times the broader market, underscoring tremendous volatility.

It continues to burn through cash, with net losses exceeding $1 billion and negative operating cash flow of $477 million, underscoring its deep dependence on external funding.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.