Rivian, an out of the box startup that aims to bring all electric vehicles (mostly commercial ones like pickups and SUVs) to the consumer market just acquired a funding of $1.3 billion to aid its initiative of launching all electric pickup trucks and SUVs.
This was the 4th investment for the company for the year 2019, with the company rolling in dough now. The company has raised $700 million from Amazon, $500 million from Ford and $350 million from Cox Automotive so far, gathering a total of a whopping $2.85 billion within this year itself.
Most of the investment for this round came from Amazon and Ford. However, the company is not willing to discuss the details of the investment.
With the $1.3 billion raised this round, and the close to $1.5 billion raised in rounds before, the company aims to bring fully electric vehicles to the market. To start with, the company is planning to launch R1T pickup truck and the R1S sport utility vehicle by the end of 2020. These vehicles will directly compete against Tesla’s CyberTruck, which has become as famous as it is infamous since the whole ‘bulletproof’ glass fiasco.
Rivian is also in cahoots with Amazon from a long time and the two companies will be working together in a deal to bring fully electric delivery vans to the market. Amazon has already ordered a 100,000 of these vans. The target is to start delivery by early 2021.
Rivian was founded in 2009 and has been ‘The’ company competing with Tesla, which is no small feat. The company has been backed by the biggest conglomerate in the world, Amazon. Its partnerships and capitalization makes it one of the biggest players in the electric vehicle market. The company has a global presence, with facilities in multiple cities.
It launched its fully electric pickup (R1T) and SUV(R1s) at LA Auto Show last November. The company promises a range as high as 410 miles on a single charge . Pre bookings have started for both, with a deposit of $1000. The R1T pickup is expected to cost around $69,000 while the R1S SUV can end up being closer to $72,500.
