The Rivian R1T pickup. Photo credit: Rivian

Electric car upstart Rivian has announced it’s raised an additional $2.5 billion in funding led by funds advised by investment firm T. Rowe Price, with participation from existing investors Amazon and BlackRock as well as new investors including Soros Fund Management, Coatue, Fidelity, and Baron Capital Group. With the new funding, Rivian has now raised a total of $5.3 billion in the span of just two years. The likes of T. Rowe Price, Amazon, Ford, and Cox Automotive have bet huge amounts on Rivian, which expects to begin delivering vehicles next year.

The electric car market has been hot as of late, with several upstarts having raised sizeable amounts recently. In this week alone, Karma Automotive, an electric car maker, raised $100 million while Fisker, another such carmaker, nabbed $50 million in new funding. Investors are apparently excited by the prospects of the electric car market both in the private and public markets. For a hint, Tesla, a publicly-traded company, recently surpassed Toyota to become the world’s most valuable automaker.

Now new board seats have been added as part of Rivian’s new investment.

“We are focused on the launch of our R1T, R1S and Amazon delivery vehicles. With all three launches occurring in 2021, our teams are working hard to ensure our vehicles, supply chain and production systems are ready for a robust production ramp up. We are grateful for the strong investor support that helps enable us to focus on execution of our products,” Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a press statement that announced the company’s new funding.