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Electric automotive startup Rivian has filed for an IPO seeking $80 billion. There has been speculation that they really are the underdogs and potential rival to Tesla. Other opinions state that they are overpriced and overreaching with this price point. What do you guys think? Will you invest in Rivian when they are seeking valuation of $80 billion or will you wait till it drops for less.
What is your sweet spot (in terms of valuation) for investing in Rivian?
Amazon-backed Rivian files for IPO, gears up for blockbuster year-end flotation
By Anirban Sen and Ben Klayman, Noor Zainab Hussain
The logo for electric vehicle startup Rivian is seen on the hood of its new R1T all-electric truck in Mill Valley, California, U.S., January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino/File Photo
Aug 27 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle maker Rivian said it has confidentially filed paperwork with regulators for an initial public offering, setting the stage for a blockbuster year-end market debut as it looks to tap into a red-hot IPO market in the U.S.
Rivian, which counts Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Soros Fund Management and BlackRock (BLK.N) among its major investors, will seek a valuation of around $70-80 billion at the time of its initial public offering, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
At that valuation, Rivian would have a bigger market capitalization than General Motors Co (GM.N), the largest U.S. automaker. But it would still be dwarfed by Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), which boasts of a market cap of nearly $700 billion and is currently planning to build a pickup truck that would compete with Rivian's own version.
Rivian's stock market flotation is expected to lead the year-end line-up for U.S. IPOs, which have so far raised a record haul of over $225 billion this year, according to data from Dealogic.
A number of high-profile names, including Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global (DIDI.N), South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang (788.F) and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN.O), have already taken advantage of record-breaking capital markets activity this year and floated their shares on U.S. stock exchanges.
Several other big names are expected to go public in the last quarter of the year, including the likes of chipmaker GlobalFoundries, restaurant software provider Toast and private equity giant TPG, among others.
Rivian did not provide any other details on its IPO plans on Friday. It is expected to lift the veil off its finances for the first time in a public filing in the coming weeks.
The company is one of the most well-funded startups in the United States. It raised $10.5 billion since the start of 2019, including $2.5 billion in July in a round led by Amazon and Ford Motor Co (F.N). read more
RACE FOR SUPREMACY
Founded in 2009 as Mainstream Motors in 2009 by RJ 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 looking to start production of an electric pick-up and an SUV this year.
Rivian's filing comes as automakers are racing to develop electric vehicles(EVs) as China, Europe and other countries and regions mandate lower carbon emissions.
In the United States, traditional carmakers such as GM and Ford are retrofitting plants for EV production, while Tesla, Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn (2317.TW)and several startups are expanding existing plants or are building them.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Rivian was in discussions to invest at least $5 billion in a new vehicle plant near Fort Worth, Texas. read more
Rivian is currently pursuing a two-track strategy: building electric delivery vans for Amazon, while 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.
This year, however, has not been without challenges for Rivian, as CEO Scaringe in July told customers the pandemic had delayed the launch of its vehicles. read more
Apart from Rivian, a slew of fast-growing EV startups have taken advantage of the capital markets boom in the past 12 months, especially with the rise of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).
The likes of Lucid Motors, Nikola Corp (NKLA.O), Fisker Inc (FSR.N) and Lordstown Motors Corp (RIDE.O), have all chosen to merge with blank check firms to go public. Reporting by Anirban Sen, Noor Zainab Hussain, Niket Nishant and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Edward Tobin
$80B for a company that has three solid products, a functioning factory, and massive financial backing from multiple big names in the industry isn't hard to believe.
Rivian’s IPO Is Coming. 5 Things We Learned From the S-1.
Oct. 1, 2021
[ . . . ]
(3) Ford shareholders are going to be happy
Ford Motor (F) has about 66 million Rivian shares it bought for about $7.60 back in 2019. The most recent Rivian stock sale was at almost $37 a share in 2021. That makes Ford’s private stake is worth about $2.4 billion or about 60 cents per Ford share outstanding.
(4) Connectivity is going to be a new business
Cars are getting smarter and that is opening up opportunities for auto makers to do more than just build cars and trucks. “We plan to launch additional subscription services, enable the purchase of more features through [over the air] software updates, including higher levels of autonomy, expand our financing and insurance offerings, and play a central role in the used Rivian marketplace,” reads the document.
That is similar to the new forms of revenue Tesla, Ford, GM, and others are trying to generate.
(5) Rivian is burning cash
Rivian doesn’t have substantial sales yet so cash burn isn’t a surprise. It’s also why it needs to raise capital to expand. The company lost about $1 billion in the first half of 2021. That’s net income. Cash burn has been about $1.6 billion.
Still, Rivian has about $3.6 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Oodles of cash is a critical success factor for an automotive start-up. It takes a lot of money to start a car or truck company.
There is more in the S-1 to uncover. It will take an investor days to fully digest. And the final Rivian IPO valuation isn’t known yet. That will be determined by negotiations between underwriters and investors. But we know one thing: It’s going to be big.
Rivian, an Electric Vehicle Start-Up, Reveals Large Losses in Its I.P.O. Filing
Oct. 1, 2021
Rivian, an electric truck maker backed by Amazon and Ford Motor, on Friday revealed huge losses and a voracious need for cash as it headed into one of the most anticipated initial public offerings of the year.
In filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Rivian said that it had lost $2 billion since the start of last year, underscoring the costs and risks of developing electric vehicles. And the company said it expected to spend roughly $8 billion on facilities and equipment through the end of 2023. Amazon, which has a contract to buy 100,000 delivery vehicles from Rivian, has invested over $1.8 billion in the company, according to the filing.
[ . . . ]
Like other electric vehicle companies, Rivian has big losses because it costs a lot to set up and run production lines and because it has minimal sales. In the first half of the year, the company lost $994 million, compared with a $377 million loss in the same period last year, according to the I.P.O. filing. In 2020, it lost $1.02 billion.
“We do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future as we invest in our business, build capacity and ramp up operations,” Rivian said in the filing, “and we cannot assure you that we will ever achieve or be able to maintain profitability in the future.”
Tesla, the leading electric carmaker, lost $56 million in 2009 before going public in the middle of 2010. It wasn’t until 2020 that Tesla made its first full-year profit.
The Rivian filing did not say how much money it expected to raise in the offering. That number typically comes in later filings.
Investors keep a close eye on how much cash young, fast-growing companies are consuming, in case they run out. Rivian’s operations used up $850 million in the first half of this year, roughly the same amount as in all of last year. It said it had $3.7 billion of cash in hand at the end of June, which includes money it raised when it issued $2.7 billion worth of preferred stock in January. It also borrowed $2.5 billion through “convertible promissory notes” in July.
Rivian has over $10 billion in investments from Amazon, Ford Motor and several Wall Street firms. The filing said Amazon had plowed $1.35 billion into Rivian through stock investments and $490 million by purchasing the notes sold in July. Ford’s investments total $1.24 billion. T. Rowe Price, the mutual fund company, has invested $2.6 billion.
The filing did not say what percentage of Rivian’s stock those investors own.
During its often rocky ascent, Tesla had production problems that put great strain on its finances. Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, also made missteps that got the company into regulatory trouble and created other controversies. But the company appears to have won the backing of investors — its $777 billion value on the stock market is 10 times that of General Motors.
Rivian’s founder and chief executive, R.J. Scaringe, a studious engineer with a Ph.D. from M.I.T., has kept a relatively low profile and has avoided overselling what the company can do, industry experts say. His compensation was $1.3 million last year, according to the filing. But his pay this year could be much larger, provided Rivian’s stock performs well. In January, Rivian’s board granted Mr. Scaringe 6,785,315 shares and a performance-based option to purchase up to 20,355,946 shares.
Rivian said in the filing that it started delivering its truck, the R1T, in September, but it did not say how many vehicles it delivered in the month and a company representative declined to provide a number. Rivian plans to start delivering its S.U.V., the R1S, later this year.
The cheapest model of the truck costs $67,500 and the S.U.V. $70,000. In the filing, the company said that, as of Sept. 30, it had roughly 48,390 orders for its truck and S.U.V. in the United States and Canada from customers who each had paid a refundable deposit of $1,000.
Rivian Files For IPO With Initial Orders For About 150,000 Electric Trucks
Oct 1, 2021
Rivian Automotive, the best-funded electric vehicle startup in U.S. history, filed for an initial public offering and revealed that it has nearly 150,000 initial orders for its battery-powered pickups, SUVs and delivery trucks and that Amazon and Ford own stakes of 5% or more.
The potential Tesla challenger, based in Irvine, California, filed an S-1 statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday—a follow-up to its announcement of a confidential IPO filing in late August. The company disclosed preorders for 48,390 R1T pickups and R1S SUVs from customers in the U.S. and Canada, each requiring a $1,000 deposit. Additionally, it has orders for 100,000 delivery vans from investor Amazon to be delivered through 2025.
Rivian’s key shareholders when it begins trading include Amazon, Ford, T. Rowe Price, Global Oryx Co. and Manheim Investments, according to the filing. Additionally, four of its nine board members will be women, including CFO Claire McDonough, Peloton director Karen Boone, former Credit Suisse executive Pamela Thomas-Graham and former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. Rivian is valued at about $80 billion by PitchBook.
The company just began production at its Normal, Illinois, plant last month and follows rival startups Lucid and Fisker Inc. that are each targeting a big share of a growing market for electric vehicles. Founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD RJ Scaringe, Rivian arrives with both an audacious level of funding—more than $10 billion—and significant support from the auto industry including Ford and investor Cox Automotive.
[ . . . ]
Along with generating revenue from vehicle sales Rivian said it will also make money from selling regulatory pollution credits to other automakers. That’s proved a particularly impactful business for Tesla, keeping it in the black in numerous quarters. Between 2008 and the first half of 2021, the electric-car maker led by Elon Musk has reported cumulative credit sales totaling $4.8 billion.
Rivian’s Illinois plant, a former Mitsubishi Motors factory, currently has capacity to produce no more than 150,000 units annually, according to the filing. “We expect vehicle demand to outpace our production volumes in the near-term as we work to fulfill customer preorders and continue to add to our backlog of preorders.”
Amazon-backed EV start-up Rivian plans to price shares up to $62, putting valuation near $55 billion
Nov 1 2021
Electric vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive is targeting a market valuation of as much as $54.6 billion in its upcoming initial public offering, according to its amended prospectus filed Monday.
The company said it plans to offer 135 million shares priced between $57 and $62, with an option for underwriters to purchase up to 20.25 million additional shares. At the high end of that range, Rivian would bring in roughly $9.6 billion in its market debut, assuming underwriters exercise that option.
However, those numbers could change based on actual demand from investors before the company goes public. Earlier on Monday, sources told CNBC that it would seek a valuation of more than $60 billion.
Rivian plans to go public as soon as next week, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CNBC. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RIVN,” according to Rivian’s IPO prospectus filed last month.
Rivian plans to sell a portion of its $60 billion IPO directly to SoFi users
Nov. 2, 2021
Rivian plans to sell a portion of its IPO directly to retail investors via SoFi's online brokerage platform, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The move adds to the growing trend of fintech companies attempting to level the playing field for retail investors by giving them the same access to IPO shares that institutional investors on Wall Street have. Most recently, Robinhood offered a portion of its IPO shares directly to users of its platforms.
"We currently anticipate that up to 0.5% of the shares of Class A common stock offered hereby will, at our request, be offered to retail investors through SoFi Securities LLC via its online brokerage platform. SoFi will be a selling group member," Rivian said in its SEC filing.
Rivian plans to sell 135 million Class A shares in its IPO, meaning 675,000 shares will be allocated to SoFi users.
Retail investors on SoFi's investment platform will be able to purchase a set amount of shares of Rivian stock at its IPO price, rather than after it begins trading.
Not sure if I'll get any with only 675,000 shares being made available. Put in for 200.
There's huge demand so I'm expecting the price range to increase from the current $57 to $62 range. I'm thinking a price of at least $65, then see a 40% pop to $90+ when it starts trading next Wednesday
do you have to be an existing sofi account holder to get in (e.g. must be sofi member prior to nov 1)?
No mention of how long you had to have account, how much in funds was in account, or how active you are. I've had my account since summer 2019.
These were the terms when I was putting in my interest for shares.
"...predetermined algorithm will allocate shares to eligible customers based on a number of factors, and you may not always receive the number of shares you request" whatever that means
All my stuff is with schwab so looks like I'll be getting in after the IPO hits which is, honestly, fine as I'm expecting it to go down before it comes back up.
If you haven't yet, you'll need to fill out the COB (conditional offer to buy IPO shares)
How do I place a COB?
All participation is conducted via the New Issue Center at etrade.com. Customers may place COBs as follows:
.
Log into your E*TRADE Securities account at etrade.com
Hover over 'Trade'
Select 'IPOs & Other New Issues'
Select the 'Equity Offerings' tab to see the list of offerings available through E*TRADE
The "Type" field will indicate whether or not the offering is an IPO (other offering types include Follow-on offerings and IPOs of Closed-end Funds)
Click on the 'Participate' button to the right, select account from dropdown and click the second 'participate' button which appears.
Complete the Investor profile which is separated into 4 sections. Note: each section must be completed and saved.
Personal Background
Investing Experience
Investment Objectives
Affiliation section
Click the checkbox at the bottom of the page to acknowledge that you have read the certification statement and then click 'submit profile' button
You will be notified immediately whether or not you are eligible to participate in the offering
If eligible, you must certify at the bottom of the page that you have reviewed the preliminary prospectus for the offering and then click the 'Next' button
On the "Place a Conditional Offer" page, enter the number of shares you would like to buy and the maximum price that you will pay for the shares
On the following screen ("Review / Submit Conditional Offer") select "Submit Offer"
The next screen will confirm that the COB has been received and that you must either select "Exit and Fund Later" or "Fund Account"
After a COB has been submitted, it can be viewed on the "My Equity Offers" tab
COBs can be amended or cancelled up until the offering enters the "Allocate" stage
Rivian Prices IPO at $78, Above Raised Target Range
Nov. 9, 2021 6:56 pm ET
Rivian Automotive Inc. priced its highly anticipated intial public offering at $78 a share, well above its raised expectations, valuing the electric-vehicle maker at more than $77 billion on a fully diluted basis, according to a person familiar with the matter.
08-27-2021, 10:07 PM
The logo for electric vehicle startup Rivian is seen on the hood of its new R1T all-electric truck in Mill Valley, California, U.S., January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino/File Photo
