Rivian Electric Car Startup May Be Worth As Much As Honda On IPO

Amazon-backed Rivian is targeting a valuation of more than $53 billion in its US debut, making the electric-vehicle maker potentially almost as valuable as Honda.

The startup plans to raise up to $8.4 billion in what would be the third-largest initial public offering (IPO) in the last decade in the United States. Just three companies have raised more than $8 billion when going public since 2011, according to data from Dealogic.

Alibaba raised a record $25 billion in 2014, Facebook’s new name Meta raised 16 billion in 2012, while Uber raised 8.1 billion in 2019.

Since last year, electric car companies have emerged as some of the hottest investments, like Tesla itself.

While it hasn’t sold many electric cars yet, Rivian tends to be worth more than Ferrari and less than Honda, General Motors and Ford.

Founded in 2009, the startup has been investing heavily to increase production, including its all-electric R1T pickup, which launched in September.

Rivian, which posted a loss of nearly $1 billion in the first half, had about 48,390 orders for its R1S pickup trucks and SUVs in the US and Canada in September. It currently pursues a two-way strategy: building electric vans for Amazon and developing a higher-end public electric pickup.

Amazon, which revealed a 20% stake in Rivian at the end of October, has ordered 100,000 of its electric vans as part of an effort to reduce its carbon footprint.

Rivian, which filed the IPO request confidentially in August, will face stiff competition from automakers in the consumer and commercial van markets.

Ford said last week that it has more than 160,000 orders for its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck and that an electric version of its Transit commercial van is sold out. GM is preparing the production of electric vans, SUVs and pickup trucks.

Rivian said it will sell 135 million shares at a price range of between $57 and $62 each.