Rivian Automotive, a company that develops electric vehicles, including commercial delivery vans, for Amazon, filed for an IPO on Friday. The company aims to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RIVN”.
The filings show a net loss of $ 994 million on zero revenues for the first six months of 2021. In 2020, the company’s net loss was $ 1.02 billion.
The company wrote in its submission: “We are a company in the development phase and have not yet generated any significant revenue. Vehicle production and deliveries began in September 2021.” Rivian launched Tesla, GM, and Ford with an electric pickup truck, the R1T, that has already received rave reviews. The company plans to launch a seven-passenger SUV called the R1S in December, the filing said.
CEO RJ Scaringe, who holds a Ph.D. from Sloan Automotive Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded in 2009 Rivian. The company is based in Irvine, Calif., And employed 6,274 people at the end of June. It operates a vehicle assembly plant in Normal, Illinois.
Amazon and Ford each own more than 5% of the company. Peter Krawiec, Amazon’s Senior Vice President, Global Corporate and Business Development, sits on Rivian’s board of directors.
Amazon’s new delivery truck
Amazon
Rivian’s commercial vehicle business will be heavily dependent on Amazon for the foreseeable future. The company said Amazon has some exclusive rights to purchase Rivian electric delivery vehicles for at least four years, and then the right of first refusal thereafter. However, both companies can withdraw from business under certain conditions. In particular, if Amazon does not order at least 10,000 vehicles within two consecutive calendar years, Rivian can withdraw and force Amazon to reimburse certain costs.
The electric vehicles that Rivian builds for Amazon come in 3 different sizes, 500, 700 and 900 cubic feet. The two smaller ones are slated to hit the market in December this year and early 2022. The larger one will follow at a date that has not yet been determined.
Like Tesla, Rivian will remain a non-union automaker for the time being. The company’s filing acknowledged that this status could change and have an impact on labor costs.
Rivian is also following in Tesla’s vertically integrated footsteps. This means that it sells its electric vehicles directly to customers rather than through franchise dealers, offers its own vehicle service and repairs, and invests in a network of charging stations for Rivian owners.
The company’s filing on Friday stated that Rivian currently operates six service centers in California, Illinois, Washington, and New York, and operates 11 mobile service vehicles that can drive to a customer’s home and do some repairs. Rivian has set up 20 locations for additional service centers.
Rivian is aimed at fans of outdoor sports and recreational activities and has invested in charging stations at remote off-road destinations. The filing states that the company has secured 24 Rivian Adventure Network DC fast charging stations in seven states and 145 Rivian Waypoints charging stations in 30 states.
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