Amazon-Backed Rivian Reportedly Valued At $25 Billion

Bloomberg reports that electric-vehicle (EV) startup Rivian is close to raising new funds from existing and new investors that would put the company’s valuation at an impressive $25 billion.

The report comes just ahead of the launch of Rivian’s all-electric pickup truck, the R1T, and SUV, the R1S.

Since coming onto the scene in late 2018, the Plymouth, MI-based company has managed to raise nearly $6 billion. The massive influx of money from its current investors that include industry bigwigs like e-commerce giant Amazon.com (AMZN), investment firm Baron Capital Group, Ford Motor Co. (F), T. Rowe Price (TROW), asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK), Soros Fund Management (a hedge fund), and Wealth Management Services firm Fidelity, helps further establish Rivian’s position as one of the most well-capitalized EV startup globally.

As if that wasn’t enough, a Rivian representative told Bloomberg that the automaker is currently involved in a new round of financing that’s about to close.

“Several existing Rivian investors are participating in the round, which will raise several billion dollars, the people added, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.”

While the amount expected to be raised is unknown, the report states that the automaker is close to raising a new round of funding valuing it at about $25 billion. The publication notes however, that the funding “isn’t finalized and details could still change”.

Meanwhile, a representative for Rivian said the automaker is laser-focused on achieving its delivery targets for R1T, R1S. The two vehicles were supposed to come to market at the end of 2020 but that timeline was extended to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rivian has said the delivery of its R1T electric pickup trucks should begin sometime in June this year while deliveries of the R1S electric SUV will start in August. The startup is said to be making 100,000 Amazon delivery vehicles. The e-commerce giant expects to deploy 10,000 EVs in the next two years and a fleet of 100,000 vehicles by 2030.

It should be noted that Rivian isn’t the only company working on electric pickups. Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk is also working on the same type of vehicle. The “Cybertruck” is expected to be released in late 2021 for the dual-motor AWD version. The single-motor versions will be released in late 2022.

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