Amazon returned for a round that boosted the electric truck and SUV developer's overall funding to more than $5.3bn in the past 18 months alone.
US-based electric truck developer Rivian completed a $2.5bn financing round today that included e-commerce, cloud services and consumer device group Amazon.
The round was led by funds and accounts advised by investment manager T. Rowe Price and also featured financial services and investment group Fidelity Management and Research, Soros Fund Management, Coatue Management, Baron Capital Group and funds managed by BlackRock.
Rivian is working on a plug-in electric truck called the R1T and an electric sports utility vehicle known as the R1S that will both utilise a flexible skateboard chassis it has developed.
The company struck a partnership agreement with existing investor Amazon in September 2019 to jointly create an electric delivery van and manufacture 100,000 of the vehicles for its use. Amazon’s participation in the round follows an agreement last month to acquire autonomous vehicle developer Zoox for a reported $1.3bn.
CEO RJ Scaringe, founder and chief executive of Rivian, said: “We are focused on the launch of our R1T, R1S and Amazon delivery vehicles.
“With all three launches occurring in 2021, our teams are working hard to ensure our vehicles, supply chain and production systems are ready for a robust production ramp up. We are grateful for the strong investor support that helps enable us to focus on execution of our products.”
Rivian has now disclosed $6.15bn in financing, including $1.3bn in a December 2019 round also led by funds and accounts advised by T.Rowe Price and backed by Amazon and funds managed by BlackRock in addition to carmaker Ford Motor Company.
Amazon first invested in Rivian in February 2019 when it led a $700m round featuring unnamed existing investors that may have included diversified conglomerate Sumitomo, vehicle distributor Abdul Latif Jameel and financial services firm Standard Chartered Bank.
Ford subsequently provided $500m in funding for the company in April 2019 before media, automotive and communications group Cox Enterprises paid $350m for a 10% stake five months later.
Photo courtesy of Rivian.
