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Electric vehicle startup Rivian lands $2.5 billion in new funding

Ben Geman, author of Generate

Rivian's R1T pickup. Photo: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Electric vehicle company Rivian announced Friday the close of a $2.5 billion funding round.

Why it matters: It's another sign that the Michigan-based company is very well-positioned among the suite of electric vehicle startups with vehicles heading to the market.

  • The company is planning to soon launch production of an electric SUV and pickup, and also has a deal with Amazon to make a large fleet of electric delivery vehicles.

Driving the news: The funding was led by "funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc," Rivian said.

  • Backers include Soros Fund Management LLC, Coatue, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Baron Capital Group, Rivian said.
  • Existing shareholders Amazon and BlackRock-managed funds also took part.

What’s next: Rivian plans to launch production of its R1T pickup, R1S SUV and the vehicles for Amazon next year at its manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois.

  • Amazon plans to buy 100,000 delivery vehicles from Rivian and hopes to have 10,000 operating as soon as 2022.

The bottom line, via Axios transportation reporter Joann Muller: Rivian is biting off an extraordinary series of manufacturing challenges all at once for a startup that has never built a vehicle. Even experienced automakers struggle to launch new vehicles smoothly.

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Joann Muller, author of Navigate
Oct 9, 2020 - Economy & Business

Trucking into the hydrogen era

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

After years of unmet promises, hydrogen vehicles could finally be catching on. If so, it'll be a convoy of clean semi-trucks — not a bunch of quirky passenger cars — leading the way.

The big picture: We've been hearing about zero-emission, fuel-cell vehicles for decades as the answer to our worries about fossil fuels and climate change. But even now, the economic and practical challenges are still too difficult to overcome — except, perhaps, for commercial truck fleets.

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Axios
Updated 40 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Ipsos poll: COVID trick-or-treat.
  2. World: Greece tightens coronavirus restrictions as Europe cases spike.
  3. Economy: Conference Board predicts economy won’t fully recover until late 2021.
  4. Education: Surge threatens to shut classrooms down again.
  5. Technology: Fully at-home rapid COVID test to move forward.
  6. Travel: CDC replaces COVID-19 cruise ban with less restrictive "conditional sailing order."
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Jonathan Swan
3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Trump's legacy is shaped by his narrow interests

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

President Trump's policy legacy is as much defined by what he's ignored as by what he's involved himself in.

The big picture: Over the past four years, Trump has interested himself in only a slim slice of the government he leads. Outside of trade, immigration, a personal war against the "Deep State" and the hot foreign policy issue of the moment, Trump has left many of his Cabinet secretaries to work without interruption, let alone direction.

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