Alumni Spotlight: JoeBen Bevirt '95

JoeBen Bevirt
Founder, Joby Aviation
B.S. Mechanical Engineering '95

JoeBen Bevirt holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from UC Davis and a master’s in mechanical engineering design from Stanford University. A self-described serial entrepreneur, Bevirt has successfully founded four companies over the last 10 years. In 2000, just five years after graduating from UC Davis, Bevirt co-founded Velocity11, which developed high-performance laboratory equipment and automation solutions for life science researchers. He served as CEO, president and board member for Velocity11 until 2005, when he founded Joby, Inc. to develop, market, and sell useful, unique, consumer products, including the extremely popular GorillaPod line of flexible, portable tripods. In 2008, Bevirt turned his focus to renewable energy and founded Joby Energy Inc. to develop groundbreaking airborne wind turbines to harness the abundant power of high-altitude wind. A year later, he founded Joby Aviation to develop compact electric personal aircrafts designed for efficient high-speed flights and has worked on the NASA “LEAPTech” X-57 Maxwell project, an experimental aircraft that aims to reduce fuel use, emissions and noise in light aircraft. Bevirt holds dozens of U.S. patents, including several pertaining to air travel.