US-based electric truck developer Rivian raised $2.65bn from investors including e-commerce and cloud computing group Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund yesterday.
The round was led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price and also featured investment and financial services group Fidelity, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners and undisclosed new and existing investors.
The funding was secured at a $27.6bn valuation, a person familiar with Rivian’s financials told Reuters.
Rivian is developing an electric pick-up truck dubbed the R1T which is slated for commercial release in June 2021, and an electric sports utility vehicle called the R1S that is due for release two months later.
The latest round pushed Rivian’s funding to $8.8bn, with $8bn raised in the past two years. It comes six months after a $2.5bn round that was also led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price and backed by Amazon.
Fidelity, Soros Fund Management, Coatue Management, Baron Capital Group and funds managed by BlackRock filled out the July round.
Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price had previously led a $1.3bn round for the company in December 2019, investing with Amazon, carmaker Ford Motor Company and funds managed by BlackRock.
Cox Automotive, a subsidiary of media, automotive and communications group Cox Enterprises, had invested $350m in Rivian three months earlier at a $3.5bn valuation, after Ford agreed to provide $500m in funding in April the same year.
Amazon had initially led a $700m round for the company in February 2019 that also featured undisclosed existing investors that may have included vehicle distributor Abdul Latif Jameel and diversified conglomerate Sumitomo.
RJ Scaringe, founder and chief executive of Rivian, said: “This is a critical year for us as we are launching the R1T, the R1S and the Amazon commercial delivery vehicles.
“The support and confidence of our investors enables us to remain focused on these launches while simultaneously scaling our business for our next stage of growth.”
Photo courtesy of Rivian Automotive.
