With legacy automakers like Ford and GM announcing recent interest in electric trucks, Rivian arguably needs a giant tranche to stay ahead of larger, well-funded competitors. Perhaps partly driving the strategy for such a large round is the fact that Silicon Valley has doubling down on the concept of blitzscaling (achieving very rapid growth in phases), so a large round makes sense to quickly scale production.

Rivian has already secured a factory in Normal, Il, a former home to a once-thriving Mitsubishi plant. They’ve announced customer deliveries will begin in late 2020, and to achieve that date they will need to turn their attention toward tooling, battery pack production, assembly, and much more. Very quickly.

Rivian has ambitiously set its sights on the lucrative truck and SUV market in the US and this round of funding should help them get there. We’re excited to watch them progress. What do think about this round of funding? Leave a comment in the box below!

Rivan currently leads our Elec-Truck Pickup Tracker as most likely achieve the title of first mass-produced electric pickup.