Rivian Targets IPO Before Year's End

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Rivian Automotive is seeking to go public in the fall and targeting a valuation of at least $50 billion, according to the latest reports. The all-electric startup company, supported by Amazon and the Ford Motor Company, has already amassed around $8 million from investors and was valued at $27.6 billion less than a month ago.

While we couldn’t possibly say what it’s actually worth, burgeoning EV manufacturers have performed incredibly well on the stock market lately. Rivian would almost assuredly see its valuation balloon to the targeted sum through an initial public offering. It already has a product line, 3,600 employees spread between the Midwest and California, some serious marketing under its belt, and a relatively strong relationship with a few of the world’s largest companies. We’ve seen more done with far less on Wall Street.

It also has the right kind of people interested in it — at least that’s how most big investors should feel. Bloomberg noted that Rivian’s last big round of investments included raising $2.65 billion from a team headed by the T. Rowe Price Group.

From Bloomberg:

Rivian also has a deal with Amazon to build 100,000 custom electric delivery vans by 2030. In the near-term, the companies say 10,000 of the vans will be on the road making deliveries by 2022. Rivian will build three different models of the van, which is capable of going about 150 miles on a single charge.

Production and U.S. deliveries of its debut consumer EV, the R1T pickup, are due to start in June. The company will then start delivering its R1S SUV in August. The company has retrofitted a former Mitsubishi Motors plant in Normal, Ill., where it also plans to build the EV delivery van for Amazon.

Rivian is well on its way to becoming a real automaker, which bodes well. Other EV manufacturers have performed incredibly strong just by making big promises ahead of a listing. For example, Nikola managed to see its valuation surge to ludicrous levels (over $30 billion) last year before being shorted by Hindenburg Research after it pointed out what were essentially fraudulent claims made by the company.Granted, the EV startup didn’t have a traditional IPO and instead used a special-purpose-acquisition company called VectorIQ to guarantee a higher valuation. But it was destined for true investment greatness the moment every financial advisement outlet started talking about pumping it up and then dumping. Nikola is currently making headlines over a potential breakthrough in hydrogen, with plenty of discussion on what this means for investors. Expect a similar existence for Rivian (hopefully minus the fibbing) until it can prove itself as a profitable automaker and backers lose all interest.[Images: Rivian]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Feb 11, 2021

    The ultimate test of any EV is how much the batteries will cost, how long they last, the cost of replacement batteries, and the difficulty of disposing/recycling the spent batteries. As a resident of California, I'd add the availability of electricity to recharge the batteries, and the cost per kWh, but that's a whole different discussion.

    • Mcs Mcs on Feb 11, 2021

      "how much the batteries will cost" Definitely, and I'd add in the power density relative to weight. WIth a lighter battery, the car is more efficient and you get better range and shorter full-charge times with a smaller capacity battery. They seem to be making progress on both areas. "how long they last, the cost of replacement batteries, " They've made great progress in the lab, but I'm not sure how much of the advances have made it into production. Reading the patents and whitepapers etc, they should be able to produce batteries that outlast the car, but recent real world longevity tests make it unclear if those advances have made it into production vehicles yet. I think they can do it, but when is the question. " and the difficulty of disposing/recycling the spent batteries." It's not difficult. The materials in the batteries are valuable. There are also aftermarket companies refurbishing packs. Used Tesla packs are in demand and command a high price. Chevy Volt packs are popular within the EV conversion community. The new electrode coating technologies should give us multimillion mile batteries, so we may not need to recycle them for a number of years. I'm going to add solar and probably a couple of powerwalls. The price has been dropping fast and I get reliable power for the house and the cars. With a gas car, the gas stations depend on electricity for pumps and access by tankers. Home solar or even a solar power/powerwall backed public charging station is more reliable than gas stations. As EVs start gaining market share, in places like California, you'll start seeing gas stations become less common, so gas cars will start dealing with range anxiety at some point in the future. That gas station off the interstate that you are depending on might not be there anymore when you need it. Especially when the stations realize they can make more money charging that pumping gas and get rid of their pumps.

  • Indi500fan Indi500fan on Feb 11, 2021

    The Amazon project should give them a nice program to build reliability while monitoring a relatively limited number of fleet locations.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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