Irvine-based electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian made its market debut on Wednesday. Shares of the auto giant surged as much as 53 percent, giving the company a stunning valuation of more than $100 billion. The new number cements Rivian’s status as a hectocorn.
The company priced its stock at $78 a piece and shares closed at $100.73, well above the expected range. All told, the company raised an estimated $11.9 billion. The massive total marks the largest public debut for a U.S. based company since Facebook brought in $16 billion back in 2012.
Rivian is now the second most valuable U.S. automaker right behind Tesla, which is valued at over $1 trillion.
The company has been quite busy since the top of the year when Rivian secured a whopping $2.65 billion in fresh financing. Nearly six months later, the automaker pulled in a nearly identical round of $2.5 billion. Rivian has raised $10.7 billion in financing to date, according to Crunchbase.
The company’s consumer launch vehicles, the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV debuted earlier this summer. Rivian plans to build at least one million vehicles a year by the end of the decade, according to the company’s CEO RJ Scaringe.
Rivian, which manufactures its vehicles in Normal, Illinois, announced plans to open a second U.S. based manufacturing plant back in November. Moving forward, the company plans to expand its market reach to China and Europe.
Of the company’s nearly 6,500-person team, over 1,500 employees are located in Southern California. Rivian is now hiring for over 600 tech roles across its offices in Carson, El Segundo, Irvine and Los Angeles. Available positions span multiple departments.
Underwriters Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan led the offering.
