Business IPO Public Markets

Rivian Charges On To Wall Street As Largest IPO Of The Year

Electric vehicle maker Rivian closed out its first day of trading at 29 percent above its initial public offering price, after an upsized IPO. The company raised around $12 billion through its IPO after pricing its shares at $78 apiece, above its previously stated range of between $72 and $74. 

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Rivian’s IPO is the largest of the year—no small feat for a basically pre-revenue company going public in a busy market. But Rivian’s deal with Amazon gives it a boost, as the e-commerce giant not only invested capital in Rivian, but pre-ordered 100,000 Rivian trucks.

Rivian’s partnership with Amazon likely fueled investor enthusiasm for the IPO, according to Patrick Healey, founder and president of Caliber Financial Partners

Amazon, “can have an outsized impact on their success just based on orders they make on their fleet,” Healey said in an interview.

Rivian’s stock opened at $106.75 on Wednesday—about 37 percent above its IPO price—trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol RIVN. The company initially set an IPO price range of between $57 and $62.

From a company and an investment banker standpoint, this will have to be viewed as a successful IPO because they were able to raise the IPO price several times so they didn’t leave too much money on the table and the stock still relied on the first day and they traded up,” Healey said.

Amazon, T. Rowe Price, and Ford are among the biggest winners in Rivian’s IPO. The company raised around $10.5 billion in funding for investors before going public.

Rivian’s IPO comes as investors are bullish on the EV sector. That’s likely because of a series of public policy mandates that incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles, and the performance of Tesla so far this year. 

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

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