Electric vehicles startup Rivian may be starting the new year off with a band by closing a funding round valuing it as high as $25 billion, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. Rivian has seen massive investments during its short life as an EV startup, from huge brands like Ford, Amazon, T. Rowe Price Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., Soros Fund Management, Coatue, Fidelity Investments and Baron Capital Group. Thus allowing the company to kickstart production of its R1S and R1T.
The new report from Bloomberg suggest that Rivian is closing in on a very successful funding round that skyrockets the startups valuation to around $25-billion. Considering that Rivian was valued at around $8 billion in the beginning of 2020, it is quite an impressive leap. Bloomberg reached out to Rivian for comment but the automaker did not confirm nor deny the numbers. However, a company spokesperson stated “We are focused on delivering the R1T, R1S, and Amazon delivery vehicles in 2021. We often speak to investors, and we have no announcement to make at this time.”
Rivian is currently preparing to begin deliveries of its very first vehicles, the R1T is expected to begin reaching customers come June, while the R1S won’t be too far behind with deliveries expected only a few months later. If Rivian does close this round of funding with a $25 billion valuation, well, that’s one way to really make your name known, not only in the EV sector but the entire automotive industry. A valuation this high would put Rivian up there with several traditional automakers, like Ford, who had a market cap of $33.8 billion on Tuesday.