The electric vehicle startup Rivian announced this week that it has closed a $2.5 billion funding round, led by investors such as Amazon.com, Ford Motor Co., and T. Rowe Price.
The company says it has raised about $10.5 billion so far. Rivian closed a $2.65 billion investment round in January and an additional $2.5 billion round in July.
The company raised $1.3 billion in December 2019 and approximately $1.5 billion before that.
The announcement comes after the California-based company said it was looking into building a second assembly facility in the U.S.
Rivian is expected to announce the plant within the next few months and begin construction early next year.
There is an increasing race among automakers to develop cleaner EVs, as countries and regions like the EU, China and others mandate lower carbon emissions.
Rivian hopes to compete with its R1T pickup and R1S SUV as well as a delivery van for Amazon.
The first delivery of the R1S electric SUV was pushed back to autumn, while the R1T electric pickup truck was postponed to September, Rivian’s chief executive said in a letter to customers last week.
According to Rivian, retail customer delays have not impacted the company’s plans to provide electric delivery vehicles to its partner and investor Amazon.
In addition to its initial three vehicles, the EV maker planned to build smaller models for China and Europe, possibly where it will ultimately build vehicles.
A part of Amazon’s ambitious plan to run its entire fleet on renewable energy, the company committed to buying 100,000 electric vehicles in September 2019 from Rivian. By the end of 2021, the Rivian plans to test electric delivery vans in 16 cities.
