Rivian shareholders should strap on their seatbelts. The Amazon-backed electric truck maker raised its proposed IPO pricing range 23% today—from what it disclosed last week—to a level that implies a market capitalization of $67 billion. That’s 84% of the market cap of Ford, for those keeping score—not bad for a startup that has yet to produce any revenue.
And you can imagine this is just the start. Rivian’s underwriters are presumably seeing intense investor demand. It’s a good bet, then, that when Rivian actually goes public, the stock will take off like one of its vehicles operating with a full charge. Given that Amazon has pumped $1.35 billion into the company and ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from it, investor confidence makes perfect sense. Investors know Amazon is underwriting Rivian’s success.