Toyota's $1B flying taxi dream

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. As Tesla, Hyundai, and BYD race to rule the roads with EVs, Toyota is aiming for the skies. The automaker has dropped nearly $1B into Joby Aviation, a California startup building electric air taxis.

Is the future of mobility less about four wheels and more about vertical liftoff? Toyota is certainly betting on it.

In today’s tech rundown:

• Toyota’s $1B bet on air taxis

• New injectable targets and kills belly fat

• Figma eyes $16B debut in IPO comeback

• Musk’s X fights France’s data probe

• Quick hits on other major tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

JOBY AVIATION

 🚖 Toyota’s $1B bet on air taxis

The Rundown: While Tesla, Hyundai, and BYD pump resources into EVs, The Information reports that Toyota has taken a different bet: a nearly $1B investment in Joby Aviation, a pioneer in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

The details:

• Joby just closed a $250M tranche of investment from the Japanese automaker and is doubling its manufacturing capacity at its facilities in California and Ohio.

• Toyota, also Joby’s largest investor, is embedding its engineers within the eVTOL maker’s production lines, allowing it to accelerate its vehicle assembly.

• Joby is in the final phase of FAA certification, with 80% of the required certification complete and a target to launch commercial services by 2026.

• Toyota’s billion-dollar air mobility bet comes at the cost of less investment in its own EV R&D and battery plants, potentially risking market share.

Why it matters: Toyota is making a calculated bet that the future of mobility isn’t just electrified — it's airborne. If Joby’s eVTOL vision flies, Toyota could own the air taxi market. But with the EV market growing worldwide, it’s a high-stakes move that could either leave them soaring above the competition or playing catch-up on the ground.

BIOTECH INNOVATION

💉 New injectable targets and kills belly fat

The Rundown: Taiwan’s Caliway Biopharma says it has developed a first-of-its-kind injectable that destroys fat cells directly — delivering fast, targeted fat loss without surgery and only minimal side effects. And it is inching closer to FDA approval.

The details:

• Unlike traditional treatments that only shrink or suck away fat, CBL-514 reportedly directly targets and kills the fat cells or adipocytes.

• The injectable triggers apoptosis — programmed cell death — cascade via upregulation of mediators like caspase-3 and Bax/Bcl-2.

• Across a battery of trials, subjects saw significant, rapid reductions in fat stores — up to 25% in some studies — with no major downtime.

• CBL-514 has wrapped up two successful Phase 2b trials (CBL-0204 and CBL-0205) and is set to begin two global Phase 3 clinical trials this year.

Why it matters: Forget lipo and long recoveries: Caliway purports that CBL-514 slims down fat bulges with real, visible results after a single treatment and almost zero downtime. With multibillion-dollar potential across aesthetics and even metabolic health, this injectable could be a serious disruptor if it gets FDA approval.

FIGMA

🚀 Figma eyes $16B debut in IPO comeback

The Rundown: Figma, the SaaS juggernaut behind collaborative design workflows, is moving toward an IPO set to raise up to $1.03B. The company is floating nearly 37M shares, giving it a potential market valuation that could hit $16.4B.

The details:

• Figma aims to raise $1.03B by selling 37M shares at a price range of $25 to $28, signaling the biggest SaaS IPO since the “growth at any cost” era cooled.

• The float could give Figma a valuation near $16.4B, below the $20B Adobe had proposed before their takeover fell through due to regulatory scrutiny in 2022.

• Figma reported a jaw-dropping 46% year-over-year revenue surge in Q1 2025, showcasing not just growth but an enviable enterprise adoption curve.

• CEO Dylan Field is expected to retain about 74% of voting rights after the IPO, similar to Google and Meta’s ironclad leadership structure.

Why it matters: Figma’s IPO is shaping up to be a litmus test of the tech market’s appetite for new public listings this year. Once a darling of UX/UI designers, the company is pushing beyond its core audience with new team tools and AI-powered features — putting it on a collision course with giants like Atlassian and Adobe.

X/TWITTER

🧐 Musk’s X fights France’s date probe

The Rundown: In a defiant stand-off with French authorities, X declared it will refuse to cooperate with a sweeping French criminal investigation into alleged algorithmic bias and “foreign interference.”

The details:

• Authorities have requested deep access to X’s algorithmic recommendation code, moderation logs, back-end AI systems, and user metadata.

• The probe centers on accusations that X’s algorithm amplifies hate speech, misinformation, and possible foreign influence during sensitive election periods.

• X says it’s resisting the inquiry on both legal and ethical grounds, claiming the probe is an attempt to “weaponize regulation” against opposition speech.

• Notably, authorities have labeled X an “organized gang” in their probe, which equips French law enforcement with the power to wiretap X executives.

Why it matters: This dispute could be a pivotal test for how much access European governments can demand from U.S. tech platforms. If France ramps up enforcement or imposes sanctions on X, it could fuel a major EU-U.S. clash over digital sovereignty, impacting everything from privacy rules to broader tech and data sharing partnerships.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

U.S. tech giants Meta, X, and LinkedIn appealed a groundbreaking VAT demand from Italy, a case that could impact tax rules across all 27 EU member states.

OpenAI and SoftBank’s multibillion-dollar Stargate AI project reportedly scaled back its initial ambitions and now aims to build just a small data center in Ohio this year.

Chicago is set to become home to a $1B quantum computer built by PsiQuantum, with construction starting in 2025 and operations planned to begin in 2028.

France’s Sanofi is acquiring UK biotech firm Vicebio for $1.15B, bringing its new mRNA-based (easier to store) vaccine into its lineup.

Google removed nearly 11K YouTube channels and accounts in the second quarter of 2025 for spreading state-linked propaganda, mainly from China and Russia.

OpenAI says that ChatGPT receives 2.5B global requests every day, with 330 million of those coming from users in the U.S. alone.

Defense startup Hadrian nabbed $260M in a Series C funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Zeen, a social collage platform for creators that was once a Gen-Z hit, is shutting down, reports Business Insider. 

Elon Musk said that his AI startup, xAI, will develop a kid-friendly version of its chatbot called “Baby Grok.”

DuckDuckGo is introducing a new setting that allows users to filter out AI-generated images from search results, responding to user feedback.

Meta refused to sign the EU's AI Act code of practice, citing legal concerns, just weeks before new rules for general-purpose AI models take effect.

Tesla’s retro-futuristic Diner & Drive-In, featuring fast charging and classic Americana flair, officially opened in Hollywood, with Musk hinting at future locations.

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, predicts that rapid advancements in AI could make recruiters and executive assistants obsolete in as little as six months.

Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the platform has started using generative AI in its shows and films, starting with the Argentine sci-fi series The Eternaut.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team