Rivian, the maker of electric pickups backed by Amazon.com, disclosed a net loss of almost $1 billion (R14.9 billion) in the first half of the year in its initial public offering paperwork.
The Irvine, California-based startup in a filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of the offering as $100 million (R1.49 billion), a placeholder that will change when terms of the share sale are set.
Rivian was seeking to be valued at about $80 billion (R1.19 trillion) in a listing, Bloomberg News reported in August when the company announced that it had filed confidentially for an IPO.
The company’s IPO plans come as electric vehicle makers are scaling up, angling for a bigger slice of the growing market.
With $10.5 billion (R156 billion) raised from backers including Amazon and Ford, an established factory in Illinois and thousands of reservation holders for its R1T truck and R1S sport utility vehicle, Rivian is among the most serious competitors lining up to take on electric-vehicle leader Tesla.
The filing revealed new details about Rivian’s pact with Amazon, underscoring how the startup has tied its future to one of its biggest benefactors.
The e-commerce giant will have exclusive rights to Rivian’s delivery vehicles for four years after receiving its first one, and it gets right of first refusal to buy the vans for two years after that.
Amazon has ordered 100,000 last mile trucks by 2030, with the first 10,000 due this year.
But the filing shows that Amazon’s logistics unit isn’t bound to buy any electric delivery vehicles from Rivian – and that it can still work with any other potential automotive partners.
“While the EDV Agreement provides that we will be reimbursed for certain development costs, it does not include any minimum purchase requirements or otherwise restrict Logistics from developing vehicles or collaborating with, or purchasing similar vehicles from, third parties,” it said.
Rivian also disclosed how many of its SUVs and trucks have been pre-ordered. Potential customers have put down a refundable $1,000 (R14,860) deposit for non-binding rights to buy 48,390 R1T and R1S models.
$3.7 Billion War Chest
Rivian had a net loss of $994 million (R14.8 billion) in the first six months of 2021, compared with a $377 million (R5.6 billion) deficit a year earlier, according to the filing.
The company generates minimal revenue from the initial sales of its R1T, commercial pick-up truck, vehicles and does not generate any revenue from the sales of other products.
It had about $3.7 billion (R55 billion) in cash and cash equivalents on hand as of June 30 to fund its growth.
The company’s other investors include T. Rowe Price Group, Global Oryx, and Manheim Investments, the filing showed.
“Rivian exists to create products and services that help our planet transition to carbon neutral energy and transportation,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert Scaringe wrote in a letter to prospective investors.
“I hope you’ll join us in our journey to help drive the future of transportation.”
The startup disclosed that as of this week, it operated six service centers in four states, including California, Illinois, and New York, in addition to a 24/7 service support center in Michigan and 11 mobile service vehicles.
Rivian had a network of 169 dedicated charging stations across the country, 24 of which are so-called fast charging sites.
The offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. More than 20 banks are listed on the cover page of its prospectus.
The company plans to trade its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol RIVN.
Rivian employs about 8,000 people globally. Its main factory in Normal, Illinois, is a former Mitsubishi Motors plant where production on the company’s debut consumer model just started.
Separately, Rivian said Friday it had established a philanthropy called Forever to address climate change and committed to investing 1% of its equity into the non-profit .
Keyword: Rivian electric bakkie company reports big losses in first half of 2021