Rimac Group said Tuesday it has raised 500 million euro ($536 million), funds that will help the Croatian startup expand beyond its electric hypercar roots and grow into a global EV components supplier — and eventually a publicly traded company.
Softbank Vision Fund 2 and Goldman Sachs led the Series D investment round in a deal that valued the manufacturer at 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion). The round includes an “eight-figure sum” from Porsche, which now owns 20% of the company. Founder and CEO Mate Rimac will remain the largest shareholder of Rimac Group, the majority shareholder of the recently merged Bugatti Rimac and the sole shareholder of Rimac Technology.
“SoftBank is the biggest tech investor in the world, and Goldman is a very big financial investor,” Mate Rimac said Tuesday on a call with media. He added that, while the company’s hypercar business is sustainable, the investment is crucial to both the development of the company’s Rimac Technology subsidiary and Rimac’s prospects for going public in the future.
The funding will be used to hire talent, build a $200 million campus for Rimac’s Zagreb, Croatia headquarters and to develop and produce batteries, software and other components for electric cars.
Above all, the money will also help Rimac stay independent from larger automakers, the CEO said. “It’s very good for us to have Porsche and Hyundai onboard as shareholders, but we don’t want to be fully dependent on them.”
Rimac merged its hypercar division with French supercar maker Bugatti in November. The resulting company, called Bugatti Rimac, is developing the $2.5 million Rimac Nevera hypercar, a 1,914-horsepower EV that it claims can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds, faster than any other production car. That car, which made its debut last year, will come to market this summer.
Developing and building the Nevera in house has helped the company develop a range of technologies that it can supply to other automakers. In addition to Porsche and Hyundai, the company has also partnered with Automobili Pininfarina, Koenigsegg and Aston Martin to design, engineer and manufacture batteries and other parts for high-performance EVs.
Construction on the nearly 25-acre campus in Zagreb began in August. Rimac said Tuesday that the project is on schedule to open in 2023.
“Despite all the material shortages and all the challenges that are now in the supply chain, we are progressing with that quite well,” Rimac said.
The headquarters will house research and development for Rimac and Bugatti, as well as the production for electric cars – including the Nevera – and a variety of components including battery systems and chassis. The company said that the site will be able to produce tens of thousands of components annually once it ramps up to full capacity.
The new funding will also help Rimac hire 700 employees in 2022, nearly doubling its current workforce, and open new offices and factories across Europe, including in Germany and England, and possibly Italy, according to the company.
“Croatia has two unicorns, us and another company,” Rimac said, referring to Infobip, an IT and telecommunications business. “Italy, as far as I know, doesn’t have a single one, despite being like 12 times bigger than Croatia. So [this investment] is a big, big thing for the region, showing that you can attract the best international investors in a really competitive industry and make a significant company.”