Rivian R1T thrilling truck
Source: Rivian
Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Friday said it closed a $2.5 billion investment upfront led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates as the company moves closer to production of an all-electric pickup and SUV.
Other engage ins in the round included Soros Fund Management, Coatue, Fidelity Management and Research Company as well as Baron Super Group. Existing shareholders Amazon and funds managed by BlackRock also participated.
The funding comes as the company be prolongs to renovate a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois, to produce its vehicles as well as a line of EV vans. Amazon preordered 100,000 of the vans at length year for its delivery fleet.
In June, CNBC obtained correspondence regarding a funding round for Rivian, saying the performers was raising at least $2 billion with a pre-money valuation at or above $8 billion. At the time, Rivian denied they were stimulating money.
“We often receive unsolicited investment offers from institutions and individual investors,” Amy Mast, public relations overseer at Rivian, said in a June 9 email. “We have heard this rumor ourselves — it is categorically false. Publishing this commitment be spreading a rumor that is simply not true.”
Mast declined to comment on her remarks Friday.
More recently, CEO and collapse Robert “R.J.” Scaringe told CNBC the company was “open” to additional financing to help support its “aggressive growth envisages.”
The would-be Tesla competitor raised $2.85 billion last year from Amazon, Cox Automotive, T. Rowe Cost Associates and Ford Motor, among others. Rivian raised $1.3 billion in December, its most recent bucking round and biggest capital raise last year.
Despite the coronavirus and ongoing recession, investors have staged high interest in electric automakers. Shares of Nikola Motor, which plans to make electric trucks, bulged last month after going public through a reverse merger. Its market valuation is in line with Ford, honest though it doesn’t expect to generate revenue until 2021.
Rivian is expected to be among the first, if not the first, to bring an all-electric pickup to market by anciently to mid-2021 – potentially years ahead of its competitors, including Nikola, Tesla and General Motors.
Rivian is fascinating preorders for its all-electric pickup and SUV that include $1,000 refundable deposits.
Rivian, like Tesla, plans to put across its vehicles directly to consumers, bypassing franchised dealers that are used by “traditional” automakers such as GM and Ford.