Lucas Bell 
Electric car manufacturers have garnered the attention of Wall Street investors in a way that traditional automakers have not. You only have to look at Tesla’s $696.8 billion market cap to recognize this. But of course Elon isn’t the only CEO who has been able to wow investors, as RJ Scaringe is about to prove. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Rivian may soon close its latest round of funding, bringing with it a market value as high as $25 billion.
Rivian as a company in no stranger to investment. Major players like Ford, Amazon, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Soros Fund Management, and Fidelity Investments have already helped to get the automaker to their current $6 billion valuation, and are reportedly part of this new funding round. That said, Rivian themselves are unwilling to confirm Bloomberg’s comments, despite the publication’s source reportedly being close to the matter.
The automaker was willing to say that they often speak with investors, but that they are focused on the production of the R1T, R1S and Amazon Delivery Van models. They also noted that these talks are subject to changes moving forwards. This isn’t much of a denial however, as these products are vital to the future profitability of the company. That is especially true of the R1T pickup, which will directly battle against the GMC Hummer EV, the Tesla Cybertruck, and the Electric F-150 for segment dominance.
If Rivian is in fact able to close this latest round of funding with a $25 billion valuation, it moves them more in line with legacy automakers. Their investment partner in Ford is valued at $33.8 billion, whereas GM is worth $59.6 billion as of today. While it still seems silly to have unproven companies rival established monoliths in terms of market value, Wall Street clearly sees an opportunity in the EV segment. It will remain up to customers however to keep these companies moving forward, especially as legacy automakers start cranking out EVs of their own.
