Rivian Closes $1.3B Funding Round

The year 2019 has been good to Rivian, an electric truck maker headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan.

The company completed four funding rounds this year, and the latest, announced on Dec. 23, was a doozy: a $1.3 billion investment led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Ford Motor Company F, and funds managed by BlackRock, Inc. BLK also participated in the round. 

"This investment demonstrates confidence in our team, products, technology and strategy. We are extremely excited to have the support from such strong shareholders," said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe in a statement. 

The truck maker's three previous funding rounds included a $700 million investment led by Amazon. In April, Rivian announced that Ford Motor Company invested $500 million and that the companies would collaborate on a delivery van utilizing Rivian's skateboard platform.

In September, Cox Automotive announced its $350 million investment in Rivian, complemented by plans to collaborate on logistics and service. 

On top of that, also in September, Rivian announced it was collaborating with Amazon on the development of an electric delivery van and that 100,000 of these vans had been ordered, with deliveries starting in 2021. 

A self-styled "adventure vehicle" maker, Rivian plans to produce its two battery-electric truck models, the R1T truck and R1S SUV, at a former Mitsubishi Motors plant in Normal, Illinois, that it acquired in 2017.

Both the truck and SUV will provide more than 400 miles of range and an "unmatched combination of off-road utility and high performance," according to the company.

These vehicles use the company's flexible skateboard platform and will be produced at Rivian's manufacturing plant in Normal, with customer deliveries expected to begin at the end of 2020.

Rivian has development centers in Plymouth; San Jose and Irvine, California; Vancouver, Canada; and Surrey, England, along with a 2.6 million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Normal. 

It joins other startups as well as established manufacturers in what has become a race to build all-electric pickup trucks.

Tesla Inc TSLA unveiled its futuristic Cybertruck in November.  Ford and General Motors GM are developing similar vehicles.

Image by MikesPhotos from Pixabay