Amazon-backed EV maker Rivian makes IPO filing public
October 1, 2021
(Reuters) -Electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive, backed by Amazon.com Inc, on Friday made public its filing for a stock market listing in the United States, taking a step closer to what is expected to be a blockbuster year-end market debut.
The company has not yet set terms for its offering, but Reuters reported earlier this month that it could raise up to $8 billion in its IPO. (https://bit.ly/3FcsNtW)
For the six months ended June 30, the company’s net loss widened to $994 million from $377 million a year earlier.
Founded in 2009 as Mainstream Motors by R. J. Scaringe, the company changed its name to Rivian in 2011. “Rivian” is derived from “Indian River” in Florida, a place Scaringe frequented in a rowboat as a youth.
Rivian is currently pursuing a two-track strategy: building electric delivery vans for Amazon and developing an electric pickup and SUV brand aimed at affluent individuals.
Amazon has ordered 100,000 of Rivian’s electric delivery vans as part of the e-commerce giant’s broader effort to cut its carbon footprint.
The company, which confidentially filed paperwork with regulators for an IPO in August, said it had about 48,390 preorders for its R1T and R1S vehicles in the United States and Canada as of Sept. 30 from customers who had paid a refundable deposit of $1,000.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Uday Sampath Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)