Electric pickup startup Rivian files for public offering at $80 billion valuation

Rivian, better known as an electric pickup truck startup, has filed for a public offering (IPO) at an impressive $80 billion valuation.

For years, we have been impressed by Rivian’s ability to raise capital.

They set the bar for raising money in the electric vehicle sector.

Since its inception a decade ago, the company has managed to raise over $10 billion, with recent major investments from Amazon and Ford.

Over the last year, as it is getting closer to its first consumer deliveries, there have been rumors of going public.

Today, Rivian confirmed that it is going public in an SEC filing of a confidential S-1 form:

“Rivian today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to the proposed public offering of its common stock. The size and price range for the proposed offering have yet to be determined. The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”

Since they filed confidentially, we still don’t have any information about the company’s financials.

But Bloomberg reports that the IPO would result in an $80 billion valuation:

“Rivian Automotive Inc., the maker of electric pickups backed by Amazon.com Inc., has filed for an initial public offering and is seeking a roughly $80 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.”

As is often the case, the process is expected to take months before it can actually be listed on the public market.

Electrek’s Take

With the SPAC frenzy in the EV space, I always didn’t like that companies would go public before even delivering any product to market.

In Rivian’s case, there’s a sense of that, but the automaker has already delivered quite a few electric delivery vans to Amazon, and I think it’s likely the first R1T pickup truck deliveries are going to happen before this IPO closes.

Now, as for the $80 billion valuation, I don’t know.

Amazon did give them an order of 100,000 delivery vans, probably worth $5 billion, but the company’s success will likely rely on the success of the R1T, which could become popular in the US.