Rivian on Monday announced its fourth major investment of 2019—this time $1.3 billion led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price.
In addition to T. Rowe Price, Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock also participated in the latest investment round. Amazon and Ford had already made nine-figure investments in Rivian.
"This investment demonstrates confidence in our team, products, technology, and strategy," Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. "We are extremely excited to have the support from such strong shareholders."
This latest round brings the total publicly announced investments in Rivian to at least $2.9 billion for 2019.
Ford announced a separate $500 million investment in Rivian just eight months ago. They are working together on a new electric vehicle that will be built on Rivian's battery "skateboard" platform.
Ford spokesperson T.R. Reid said Monday that this latest investment "extends and deepens" a strong relationship between the two companies.
"This is a chance for us to reflect that confidence and maintain an important ownership stake in Rivian," Reid said.
Rivian plans to make its electric vehicles at its Normal manufacturing plant beginning in 2020. It already has around 200 employees in Normal, with plans to hire as many as 1,000 by 2024. That would make it one of McLean County's largest employers.
The mysterious Rivian first arrived in Normal in late 2016, while the EV startup was still in stealth mode. In late 2018, Rivian stepped into the spotlight at the LA Auto Show with its first electric pickup and SUV. That was followed by major investment announcements from some of the biggest business names in the country: Amazon, Ford, and Cox Automotive.
In addition to bringing in money, Rivian is starting to spend it. WGLT reported last week that Rivian started at least $24 million in demolition, retooling, and construction work at its Normal plant in 2019. Rivian bought the former Mitsubishi Motors plant in early 2017 for $16 million.
No new board seats were added at Rivian.
RIVIAN INVESTORS - TIMELINE
2017 and 2018
- Saudi conglomerate Abdul Lateef Jameel, at one time Rivian's largest shareholder.
- Sumitomo, a Japanese company with a U.S. operation based in New York. The financial terms of this investment were not disclosed.
- $200 million of debt financing from Standard Chartered Bank, an international group based in London.
2019
- $700 million investment, led by Amazon. Amazon later placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans to be built by Rivian.
- $500 million from Ford. Rivian and Ford are also working on a new vehicle that will be built on Rivian's "skateboard" battery platform.
- $350 million from Cox Automotive. Cox is hoping to learn how to value and re-sell used EV batteries on the secondary market.
- $1.3 billion investment round, led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price. Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock also participated.
