Rivian opened around $106.68, or 36.77% above $78 IPO price.

Rivian opened around $106.68, or 36.77% above $78 IPO price.

Since last year, companies in the EV space have emerged as some of the hottest investments and Wall Street's biggest institutional investors are betting on Rivian to be the next big player in a sector dominated by Tesla.

The EV market is also witnessing a surge in demand globally, as consumers become more environmentally conscious and bet on eco-friendly vehicles.

Rivian generated the most new watchers in the last 24 hours on social media site Stocktwits, viewed commonly as measure of retail investor interest.

Based on the share count, Rivian is valued at about $76.4 billion on a fully diluted basis that accounts for stock options. That compares with a valuation of $27.6 billion after a $2.65 billion funding round in January, Bloomberg News previously reported.

Backed by deep pocketed companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., Rivian is making its debut as it looks to make a dent in the electric vehicle market led by Tesla Inc.

Just a couple of months ago, Rivian delivered its first vehicles, mostly to its own employees. It will only produce about 1,200 units by year-end at its plant in Normal, Illinois. The company, which lost nearly $1 billion in the first half of the year, estimates that annual production will hit 150,000 vehicles at its main facility by late 2023.

Rivian had earlier marketed 135 million shares at $72 to $74 after elevating that range from $57 to $62, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol RIVN.

Big Backers

Though it’s a newcomer to the public market, Rivian’s entry into the world of consumer electric vehicles has been more than a decade in the making.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer R.J. Scaringe set up the first iteration of what would become Rivian in 2009 in his home state of Florida.

Over the years, it attracted a wide array of backers. As much as $5 billion of the IPO shares are set to be bought by investors including Amazon, T. Rowe Price, Coatue Management, Franklin Templeton, Capital Research Global Investors, D1 Capital, Third Point Investors, Blackstone Inc., Dragoneer Investment Group and Soros Funds.

Rivian had a net loss of $994 million in the first six months of 2021, compared with a $377 million deficit a year earlier, according to its filings. Rivian expected to record a quarterly net loss of as much as $1.28 billion due to costs associated with the start of production of the R1T.

Rivian plans to allocate up to 7% of its shares to eligible U.S. customers who had pre-orders as of Sept. 30. To attract retail investors, up to 0.4% of the IPO shares will be allocated to SoFi Securities LLC’s online brokerage platform.

Scaringe is expected to maintain outsize influence over Rivian through a class of stock giving him 10 votes per share, compared with one vote each for the shares sold in the IPO.

The offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with more than 20 banks listed on the cover page of its prospectus.

Rivian Automotive Inc plans to be building at least one million vehicles annually by the end of the decade, its chief executive said on Tuesday, as it sets its sights on market leader Tesla Inc.

Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe said the company's push for a larger global footprint would be supported by four assembly plants around the world.

"We better be growing at least that quick; certainly before the end of the decade is how we think about it," Scaringe said in an interview ahead of Rivian's market debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.