I am back from vacation. What did I miss? Turns out, quite a lot — including the end of the Uber-Waymopartnership in Phoenix. Uber and Waymo still have robotaxi service partnerships in Atlanta and Austin. The question is not if, but when will these agreements end? But that isn’t the most intriguing question, in my opinion. I am far more intrigued by how these two companies will behave once the remaining partnerships end.
There is already tension with Uber executives taking not-so-subtle shots at Waymo. I expect that once the partnerships end, these thinly veiled barbs will be replaced with more direct action. One battleground will be policy, specifically markets where robotaxi companies are angling to get access.
This week, we saw another interesting development in the autonomous vehicle industry on the federal stage. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator Jonathan Morrison issued a directive to autonomous vehicle developers, stating that it is unacceptable for their vehicles to interfere with first responders or law enforcement.
The money quote: “Let me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency. Emergency scenes are not rare or extreme ‘edge cases.’ As such, NHTSA is today issuing a call to action for AV developers and operators to immediately focus their resources on fixing this issue.”
Morrison’s letter never calls out any one robotaxi company and it was sent to every AV developer listed in the Department of Transportation’s Standing General Order. But it sure seems like Morrison is directing the agency’s ire at Waymo.
A previous TechCrunch investigation found that Waymo — which operates the largest robotaxi fleet in the United States, with vehicles in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco — has had repeated run-ins with first responders. And just this week, San Francisco supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he plans to submit a letter of inquiry to examine how autonomous vehicles affected public transit services and emergency responders following a July 4 fireworks show that resulted in massive gridlock. Local news outlets reported that numerous Waymo robotaxis had to be towed after running out of power during the lengthy traffic jam.
Morrison’s letter has gravitas. But will there be substantive consequences for AV developers? It’s hard to tell at this point. For now, the NHTSA has demanded companies present the agency with “solutions” by the end of the month.
One more news item from the feds. Take a look at the new 2026 Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda, which was updated last week. It contains a long list of proposed changes to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) requirements, which govern vehicle design and equipment requirements. These proposed changes could help autonomous vehicle companies like Tesla and Zoox, which are developing vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or other features required on human-driven cars.
We usually focus on venture deals, but this week I wanted to highlight Rivian and the sale of 86.25 million Class A common shares priced at $15.50 each (that includes an added 11.25 million in additional shares that underwriters opted to buy).
In all, Rivian said it expects to raise $1.32 billion in new capital. The raise comes at a notable time for the EV maker. The company started delivering its new R2 SUV last month and recently raised its sales forecast for 2026. The company said it now expects to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles after outperforming its own expectations in the second quarter due to robust growth quarter-over-quarter in EDV and R1, coupled with the introduction of R2 deliveries.
The company didn’t explain the reason for the raise. But as a reminder, Rivian is not yet profitable and scaling up production of the R2 — or any vehicle for that matter — isn’t cheap!
Other deals that got my attention …
Bidbus, a Los Angeles-based startup that built a digital marketplace where multiple dealers can bid on a car, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Ibex Investors. Mucker Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Data Point Capital, Walter Ventures, and the Car Dealership Guy’s Yossi Levi also participated.
Lyft said it plans to acquire Serveo’s bike-share business in Spain. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the ride-hailing company said it is expected to close this year.
TaiSan, a U.K. battery startup, raised £4.65 million in a seed funding round co-led by Eos Advisory and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. InnoEnergy, AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Exergon, Heartfelt Ventures, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, angel investor François Badelon, and matched funding from Innovate UK also participated.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
AssuranceAmerica, a U.S. insurance provider, confirmed a data breach that affected the personal information and driver’s license numbers of 6.9 million people, making it the largest known spill of Americans’ driver’s license information this year.
Beta Technologies, the electric vehicle takeoff and landing developer, completed operational flights conducted under the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration’s new eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The flights covered about 275 nautical miles covering Virginia and Maryland.
Longtime followers of Tesla will remember the heady days when Elon Musk battled various short sellers of the company’s stock. Musk is more polarizing than ever, and one exchange-traded fund creator has found a way to tap into that negative sentiment with two new anti-Elon exchange-traded funds.
GM brand Chevrolet built an all-American EV truck. Senior reporter Tim De Chant asks, Why is nobody buying it?
Manna Aero, the Ireland-based autonomous drone delivery startup, is scaling up in the United States with a factory and operations center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that it says will employ 1,000 in the next few years.
Slate Auto teamed up with Crayola to offer its EV truck and SUV customers vehicle wraps in five crayon colors. (Reminder: The basic Slate EV vehicle isn’t painted. Instead, it comes in a gray composite material that can be customized with a vehicle wrap. The company has hundreds of options to choose from.)
One more thing …
TechCrunch podcast Build Mode just launched its third season, and it’s a banger. Build Mode is hosted by Isabelle Johannessen, who heads TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield program. Unlike Equity — the TC podcast I co-host along with Anthony Ha and Sean O’Kane — Build Mode is designed to help early-stage founders.
The new season kicks off with Precursor Ventures founder and managing partner Charles Hudson, who talks about what early-stage founders need to know before raising their first institutional round.
I am back from vacation. What did I miss? Turns out, quite a lot — including the end of the Uber-Waymopartnership in Phoenix. Uber and Waymo still have robotaxi service partnerships in Atlanta and Austin. The question is not if, but when will these agreements end? But that isn’t the most intriguing question, in my opinion. I am far more intrigued by how these two companies will behave once the remaining partnerships end.
There is already tension with Uber executives taking not-so-subtle shots at Waymo. I expect that once the partnerships end, these thinly veiled barbs will be replaced with more direct action. One battleground will be policy, specifically markets where robotaxi companies are angling to get access.
This week, we saw another interesting development in the autonomous vehicle industry on the federal stage. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator Jonathan Morrison issued a directive to autonomous vehicle developers, stating that it is unacceptable for their vehicles to interfere with first responders or law enforcement.
The money quote: “Let me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency. Emergency scenes are not rare or extreme ‘edge cases.’ As such, NHTSA is today issuing a call to action for AV developers and operators to immediately focus their resources on fixing this issue.”
Morrison’s letter never calls out any one robotaxi company and it was sent to every AV developer listed in the Department of Transportation’s Standing General Order. But it sure seems like Morrison is directing the agency’s ire at Waymo.
A previous TechCrunch investigation found that Waymo — which operates the largest robotaxi fleet in the United States, with vehicles in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco — has had repeated run-ins with first responders. And just this week, San Francisco supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he plans to submit a letter of inquiry to examine how autonomous vehicles affected public transit services and emergency responders following a July 4 fireworks show that resulted in massive gridlock. Local news outlets reported that numerous Waymo robotaxis had to be towed after running out of power during the lengthy traffic jam.
Morrison’s letter has gravitas. But will there be substantive consequences for AV developers? It’s hard to tell at this point. For now, the NHTSA has demanded companies present the agency with “solutions” by the end of the month.
One more news item from the feds. Take a look at the new 2026 Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda, which was updated last week. It contains a long list of proposed changes to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) requirements, which govern vehicle design and equipment requirements. These proposed changes could help autonomous vehicle companies like Tesla and Zoox, which are developing vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or other features required on human-driven cars.
We usually focus on venture deals, but this week I wanted to highlight Rivian and the sale of 86.25 million Class A common shares priced at $15.50 each (that includes an added 11.25 million in additional shares that underwriters opted to buy).
In all, Rivian said it expects to raise $1.32 billion in new capital. The raise comes at a notable time for the EV maker. The company started delivering its new R2 SUV last month and recently raised its sales forecast for 2026. The company said it now expects to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles after outperforming its own expectations in the second quarter due to robust growth quarter-over-quarter in EDV and R1, coupled with the introduction of R2 deliveries.
The company didn’t explain the reason for the raise. But as a reminder, Rivian is not yet profitable and scaling up production of the R2 — or any vehicle for that matter — isn’t cheap!
Other deals that got my attention …
Bidbus, a Los Angeles-based startup that built a digital marketplace where multiple dealers can bid on a car, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Ibex Investors. Mucker Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Data Point Capital, Walter Ventures, and the Car Dealership Guy’s Yossi Levi also participated.
Lyft said it plans to acquire Serveo’s bike-share business in Spain. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the ride-hailing company said it is expected to close this year.
TaiSan, a U.K. battery startup, raised £4.65 million in a seed funding round co-led by Eos Advisory and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. InnoEnergy, AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Exergon, Heartfelt Ventures, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, angel investor François Badelon, and matched funding from Innovate UK also participated.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
AssuranceAmerica, a U.S. insurance provider, confirmed a data breach that affected the personal information and driver’s license numbers of 6.9 million people, making it the largest known spill of Americans’ driver’s license information this year.
Beta Technologies, the electric vehicle takeoff and landing developer, completed operational flights conducted under the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration’s new eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The flights covered about 275 nautical miles covering Virginia and Maryland.
Longtime followers of Tesla will remember the heady days when Elon Musk battled various short sellers of the company’s stock. Musk is more polarizing than ever, and one exchange-traded fund creator has found a way to tap into that negative sentiment with two new anti-Elon exchange-traded funds.
GM brand Chevrolet built an all-American EV truck. Senior reporter Tim De Chant asks, Why is nobody buying it?
Manna Aero, the Ireland-based autonomous drone delivery startup, is scaling up in the United States with a factory and operations center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that it says will employ 1,000 in the next few years.
Slate Auto teamed up with Crayola to offer its EV truck and SUV customers vehicle wraps in five crayon colors. (Reminder: The basic Slate EV vehicle isn’t painted. Instead, it comes in a gray composite material that can be customized with a vehicle wrap. The company has hundreds of options to choose from.)
One more thing …
TechCrunch podcast Build Mode just launched its third season, and it’s a banger. Build Mode is hosted by Isabelle Johannessen, who heads TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield program. Unlike Equity — the TC podcast I co-host along with Anthony Ha and Sean O’Kane — Build Mode is designed to help early-stage founders.
The new season kicks off with Precursor Ventures founder and managing partner Charles Hudson, who talks about what early-stage founders need to know before raising their first institutional round.
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
I am back from vacation. What did I miss? Turns out, quite a lot — including the end of the Uber-Waymopartnership in Phoenix. Uber and Waymo still have robotaxi service partnerships in Atlanta and Austin. The question is not if, but when will these agreements end? But that isn’t the most intriguing question, in my opinion. I am far more intrigued by how these two companies will behave once the remaining partnerships end.
There is already tension with Uber executives taking not-so-subtle shots at Waymo. I expect that once the partnerships end, these thinly veiled barbs will be replaced with more direct action. One battleground will be policy, specifically markets where robotaxi companies are angling to get access.
This week, we saw another interesting development in the autonomous vehicle industry on the federal stage. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator Jonathan Morrison issued a directive to autonomous vehicle developers, stating that it is unacceptable for their vehicles to interfere with first responders or law enforcement.
The money quote: “Let me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency. Emergency scenes are not rare or extreme ‘edge cases.’ As such, NHTSA is today issuing a call to action for AV developers and operators to immediately focus their resources on fixing this issue.”
Morrison’s letter never calls out any one robotaxi company and it was sent to every AV developer listed in the Department of Transportation’s Standing General Order. But it sure seems like Morrison is directing the agency’s ire at Waymo.
A previous TechCrunch investigation found that Waymo — which operates the largest robotaxi fleet in the United States, with vehicles in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco — has had repeated run-ins with first responders. And just this week, San Francisco supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he plans to submit a letter of inquiry to examine how autonomous vehicles affected public transit services and emergency responders following a July 4 fireworks show that resulted in massive gridlock. Local news outlets reported that numerous Waymo robotaxis had to be towed after running out of power during the lengthy traffic jam.
Morrison’s letter has gravitas. But will there be substantive consequences for AV developers? It’s hard to tell at this point. For now, the NHTSA has demanded companies present the agency with “solutions” by the end of the month.
One more news item from the feds. Take a look at the new 2026 Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda, which was updated last week. It contains a long list of proposed changes to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) requirements, which govern vehicle design and equipment requirements. These proposed changes could help autonomous vehicle companies like Tesla and Zoox, which are developing vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or other features required on human-driven cars.
We usually focus on venture deals, but this week I wanted to highlight Rivian and the sale of 86.25 million Class A common shares priced at $15.50 each (that includes an added 11.25 million in additional shares that underwriters opted to buy).
In all, Rivian said it expects to raise $1.32 billion in new capital. The raise comes at a notable time for the EV maker. The company started delivering its new R2 SUV last month and recently raised its sales forecast for 2026. The company said it now expects to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles after outperforming its own expectations in the second quarter due to robust growth quarter-over-quarter in EDV and R1, coupled with the introduction of R2 deliveries.
The company didn’t explain the reason for the raise. But as a reminder, Rivian is not yet profitable and scaling up production of the R2 — or any vehicle for that matter — isn’t cheap!
Other deals that got my attention …
Bidbus, a Los Angeles-based startup that built a digital marketplace where multiple dealers can bid on a car, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Ibex Investors. Mucker Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Data Point Capital, Walter Ventures, and the Car Dealership Guy’s Yossi Levi also participated.
Lyft said it plans to acquire Serveo’s bike-share business in Spain. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the ride-hailing company said it is expected to close this year.
TaiSan, a U.K. battery startup, raised £4.65 million in a seed funding round co-led by Eos Advisory and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. InnoEnergy, AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Exergon, Heartfelt Ventures, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, angel investor François Badelon, and matched funding from Innovate UK also participated.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
AssuranceAmerica, a U.S. insurance provider, confirmed a data breach that affected the personal information and driver’s license numbers of 6.9 million people, making it the largest known spill of Americans’ driver’s license information this year.
Beta Technologies, the electric vehicle takeoff and landing developer, completed operational flights conducted under the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration’s new eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The flights covered about 275 nautical miles covering Virginia and Maryland.
Longtime followers of Tesla will remember the heady days when Elon Musk battled various short sellers of the company’s stock. Musk is more polarizing than ever, and one exchange-traded fund creator has found a way to tap into that negative sentiment with two new anti-Elon exchange-traded funds.
GM brand Chevrolet built an all-American EV truck. Senior reporter Tim De Chant asks, Why is nobody buying it?
Manna Aero, the Ireland-based autonomous drone delivery startup, is scaling up in the United States with a factory and operations center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that it says will employ 1,000 in the next few years.
Slate Auto teamed up with Crayola to offer its EV truck and SUV customers vehicle wraps in five crayon colors. (Reminder: The basic Slate EV vehicle isn’t painted. Instead, it comes in a gray composite material that can be customized with a vehicle wrap. The company has hundreds of options to choose from.)
One more thing …
TechCrunch podcast Build Mode just launched its third season, and it’s a banger. Build Mode is hosted by Isabelle Johannessen, who heads TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield program. Unlike Equity — the TC podcast I co-host along with Anthony Ha and Sean O’Kane — Build Mode is designed to help early-stage founders.
The new season kicks off with Precursor Ventures founder and managing partner Charles Hudson, who talks about what early-stage founders need to know before raising their first institutional round.
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more…
Rivian has finally revealed that the first customers of the company’s new R2 SUV will get their vehicles on June 9.
The automaker has spent the last few months ramping up its efforts to release the R2, which is more affordable and aimed at a larger market than its current R1 lineup. The new SUV will initially be available in a trim that starts just under $60,000, though Rivian has announced plans to release a “standard” version that starts at $48,490 in 2027.
Rivian has high expectations for the R2. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has said it is “maybe the most important thing we’ve launched to date.” The company is betting on an extremely fast ramp-up, with as many as 25,000 vehicles delivered by the end of this year. Ultimately, Rivian hopes the R2 and its hatchback sibling, the R3, will help the company turn a profit for the first time since its founding in 2009.
Rivian has finally revealed that the first customers of the company’s new R2 SUV will get their vehicles on June 9.
The automaker has spent the last few months ramping up its efforts to release the R2, which is more affordable and aimed at a larger market than its current R1 lineup. The new SUV will initially be available in a trim that starts just under $60,000, though Rivian has announced plans to release a “standard” version that starts at $48,490 in 2027.
Rivian has high expectations for the R2. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has said it is “maybe the most important thing we’ve launched to date.” The company is betting on an extremely fast ramp-up, with as many as 25,000 vehicles delivered by the end of this year. Ultimately, Rivian hopes the R2 and its hatchback sibling, the R3, will help the company turn a profit for the first time since its founding in 2009.
#Rivian #deliver #SUVs #June #TechCrunchelectric vehicles,EVs,Rivian">Rivian will deliver the first R2 SUVs on June 9 | TechCrunch
Rivian has finally revealed that the first customers of the company’s new R2 SUV will get their vehicles on June 9.
The automaker has spent the last few months ramping up its efforts to release the R2, which is more affordable and aimed at a larger market than its current R1 lineup. The new SUV will initially be available in a trim that starts just under $60,000, though Rivian has announced plans to release a “standard” version that starts at $48,490 in 2027.
Rivian has high expectations for the R2. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has said it is “maybe the most important thing we’ve launched to date.” The company is betting on an extremely fast ramp-up, with as many as 25,000 vehicles delivered by the end of this year. Ultimately, Rivian hopes the R2 and its hatchback sibling, the R3, will help the company turn a profit for the first time since its founding in 2009.
Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed $300 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees.
“When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe also has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed.
Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer T.Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable, and doesn’t seem to be slowing.
More than $11 billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a $700 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest $500 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed $350 million. Rivian would close out the year with a $1.3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
In July 2020, Rivian raised $2.5 billion and another $2.65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another $2.5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group and Coatue also participated.
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly $12 billion in gross proceeds after locking in $78 per share. Its market cap hit $100 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion today, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Also and Mind Robotics have together raised more than $1.3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving especially fast: $115 million in its first year, $500 million in March, and another $400 million just this week.
Rivian also continues to land notable backers through high-profile deals like the $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership valued at up to $1.25 billion with Uber.
“Now, the big question is, how much can he do?” Behl said. “That’s a question [that] already assumes that he’s reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there is huge value to be created, there is huge impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
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Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed $300 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees.
“When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe also has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed.
Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer T.Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable, and doesn’t seem to be slowing.
More than $11 billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a $700 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest $500 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed $350 million. Rivian would close out the year with a $1.3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
In July 2020, Rivian raised $2.5 billion and another $2.65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another $2.5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group and Coatue also participated.
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly $12 billion in gross proceeds after locking in $78 per share. Its market cap hit $100 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion today, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Also and Mind Robotics have together raised more than $1.3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving especially fast: $115 million in its first year, $500 million in March, and another $400 million just this week.
Rivian also continues to land notable backers through high-profile deals like the $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership valued at up to $1.25 billion with Uber.
“Now, the big question is, how much can he do?” Behl said. “That’s a question [that] already assumes that he’s reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there is huge value to be created, there is huge impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
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#Scaringe #raised #12B #startups #investors #TechCrunchalso,EVs,mind robotics,Rivian,RJ Scaringe">RJ Scaringe has raised more than $12B across three startups and investors still want more | TechCrunch
Investors can’t seem to get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas.
In less than a decade, the serial entrepreneur best known for his EV company Rivian, has raised more than $12.3 billion from venture capital firms, as well as strategic and institutional investors for his three — and counting — startups. If the latest $400 million raise for his new venture Mind Robotics is an indicator, investors are still happily piling in.
Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed $300 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees.
“When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe also has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed.
Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer T.Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable, and doesn’t seem to be slowing.
More than $11 billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a $700 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest $500 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed $350 million. Rivian would close out the year with a $1.3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
In July 2020, Rivian raised $2.5 billion and another $2.65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another $2.5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group and Coatue also participated.
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly $12 billion in gross proceeds after locking in $78 per share. Its market cap hit $100 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion today, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Also and Mind Robotics have together raised more than $1.3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving especially fast: $115 million in its first year, $500 million in March, and another $400 million just this week.
Rivian also continues to land notable backers through high-profile deals like the $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership valued at up to $1.25 billion with Uber.
“Now, the big question is, how much can he do?” Behl said. “That’s a question [that] already assumes that he’s reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there is huge value to be created, there is huge impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
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![RJ Scaringe has raised more than B across three startups and investors still want more | TechCrunch
Investors can’t seem to get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas.
In less than a decade, the serial entrepreneur best known for his EV company Rivian, has raised more than .3 billion from venture capital firms, as well as strategic and institutional investors for his three — and counting — startups. If the latest 0 million raise for his new venture Mind Robotics is an indicator, investors are still happily piling in.
Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised 5 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed 0 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees.
“When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe also has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed.
Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer T.Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable, and doesn’t seem to be slowing.
More than billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a 0 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest 0 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed 0 million. Rivian would close out the year with a .3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
In July 2020, Rivian raised .5 billion and another .65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another .5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group and Coatue also participated.
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly billion in gross proceeds after locking in per share. Its market cap hit 0 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at .2 billion today, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Also and Mind Robotics have together raised more than .3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving especially fast: 5 million in its first year, 0 million in March, and another 0 million just this week.
Rivian also continues to land notable backers through high-profile deals like the .8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership valued at up to .25 billion with Uber.
“Now, the big question is, how much can he do?” Behl said. “That’s a question [that] already assumes that he’s reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there is huge value to be created, there is huge impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Scaringe #raised #12B #startups #investors #TechCrunchalso,EVs,mind robotics,Rivian,RJ Scaringe](https://i1.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/rj-scaringe.jpeg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1 "RJ Scaringe has raised more than B across three startups and investors still want more | TechCrunch
Investors can’t seem to get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas.
In less than a decade, the serial entrepreneur best known for his EV company Rivian, has raised more than .3 billion from venture capital firms, as well as strategic and institutional investors for his three — and counting — startups. If the latest 0 million raise for his new venture Mind Robotics is an indicator, investors are still happily piling in.
Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised 5 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed 0 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees.
“When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe also has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed.
Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer T.Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable, and doesn’t seem to be slowing.
More than billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a 0 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest 0 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed 0 million. Rivian would close out the year with a .3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
In July 2020, Rivian raised .5 billion and another .65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another .5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group and Coatue also participated.
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly billion in gross proceeds after locking in per share. Its market cap hit 0 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at .2 billion today, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Also and Mind Robotics have together raised more than .3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving especially fast: 5 million in its first year, 0 million in March, and another 0 million just this week.
Rivian also continues to land notable backers through high-profile deals like the .8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership valued at up to .25 billion with Uber.
“Now, the big question is, how much can he do?” Behl said. “That’s a question [that] already assumes that he’s reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there is huge value to be created, there is huge impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Scaringe #raised #12B #startups #investors #TechCrunchalso,EVs,mind robotics,Rivian,RJ Scaringe")
