Rivian closed its fourth successive funding round of over a billion dollars, the latest being a $2.5 billion round, led by existing investors Amazon, Ford and T Rowe Price.
In January 2021, it announced a USD2.65 billion funding round, after a USD2.5 billion round in July 2020. In February 2019, Rivian received a USD700 million funding round led by Amazon, followed by Ford Motor Company investing USD500 million a couple of months later. It also raised $1.3 billion in December 2019.
The electric vehicle start-up, which is based in Irvine, California, with its manufacturing unit is Normal, Illinois, said it has raised about USD10.5 billion since 2019. It had a valuation of USD27.6 billion in January after the USD2.65 billion investment round, which also included Saudi Arabian auto distributor Abdul Latif Jameel Company.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Rivian plans to build a second US assembly plant that will also include battery cell production.
Multiple US states have bid for the plant – dubbed ‘Project Tera’ in documents – which will be announced in a couple of months and break ground early next year.
RJ Scaringe, founder and chief executive officer of Rivian Automotive Inc., said: “As we near the start of vehicle production, it’s vital that we keep looking forward and pushing through to Rivian’s next phase of growth.
“This infusion of funds from trusted partners allows Rivian to scale new vehicle programs, expand our domestic facility footprint, and fuel international product rollout.”
Last week, the company notified buyers it is delaying deliveries of the R1T pickup until September and the R1S SUV until later in the fall. Scaringe blamed a number of pandemic-related issues, “from facility construction, to equipment installation, to vehicle component supply (especially semiconductors),” in a letter sent to customers.
In September 2019, Amazon agreed to purchase 100,000 electric vehicles from the company as part of its plans to make its fleet run entirely on renewable energy.
