- Rivian may soon close on a funding round worth several billion dollars that could give it a $25 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
- The funding round counts several existing investors, which include Amazon, Ford, BlackRock, Cox Automotive, and T. Rowe Price, according to the outlet.
- The company told Business Insider it speaks to investors “often” and “no announcement to make at this time.”
- Rivian is set to start delivering its R1T pickup and R1S SUV this summer.
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Rivian, an upstart electric-vehicle maker that counts Amazon as both an investor and a customer, may soon close a funding round valuing it as high as $25 billion, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
The new round could total several billion dollars and includes multiple investors who already have stakes in the firm, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter who wished not to be identified. However, the transaction is not finalized and is still subject to change, the outlet noted.
A company spokesperson could not confirm Bloomberg’s report.
“We are focused on delivering the R1T, R1S, and Amazon delivery vehicles in 2021,” the representative told Business Insider. “We often speak to investors, and we have no announcement to make at this time.”
A $25 billion valuation would bring Rivian into line with many traditional automakers. For reference, Ford had a market cap of $33.8 billion on Tuesday, and General Motors was worth $59.6 billion. Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker, had a market cap of $696.8 billion.
2020 was a banner year for electric vehicles. At least seven EV startups went public last year through mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which allow growing firms to raise large sums of money more quickly and conveniently than a traditional IPO. But only one of those companies, Canada’s Lion Electric Company, has delivered a single vehicle.
Rivian, however, has bucked that trend by landing large investments from major institutions like Ford, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Soros Fund Management, Fidelity Investments, Amazon, and Cox Automotive. In July, the startup announced it had closed a $2.5 billion funding round that brought its total funding to well over $5 billion.
All that funding, plus an operational production facility in Normal, Illinois make Rivian one of the most promising challengers to Tesla in the EV space.
The “Launch-Edition” models of the firm’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV are due out this summer, with base models following in 2022. The company is also developing a fleet of 100,000 battery-powered delivery vans for Amazon, which are set to start hitting the road come 2022.
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