Southern California-based electric truck maker Rivian closed a $2.65 billion investment round led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, with participation from Fidelity Management and Research, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, and other existing and new investors.
“This is a critical year for us as we are launching the R1T, the R1S and the Amazon commercial delivery vehicles. The support and confidence of our investors enables us to remain focused on these launches while simultaneously scaling our business for our next stage of growth,” Rivian CEO and Founder RJ Scaringe said in a Tuesday (Jan. 19) press release.
The startup will offer electric pickup trucks and SUVs with off-road capabilities. The company is also developing 100,000 custom electric delivery vans for Amazon using Rivian’s skateboard platform.
Backed by Amazon and Ford, the company will manufacture its first vehicles — the pickup R1T and the SUV R1S — in its Normal, Illinois factory. Deliveries of the new vehicles to customers are anticipated this summer.
Rivian has raised a total of $8 billion since the start of 2019, the company said. Other funding rounds included $2.5 billion in July, led by T. Rowe Price; $700 million led by Amazon in February 2019; $500 million by Ford in April; and others.
“We have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of 2021, and with it, the exhilaration of Rivian starting to deliver its revolutionary products to customers. It is invigorating for us to continue our journey with such a talented, mission-driven team building a robust organization for the long term,” said Joe Fath, T. Rowe Price portfolio manager.
This latest round of funds could give Rivian a valuation of $25 billion. The company’s first batch of pickups are sold out and delivery is expected to start in June. The company could end up being the first company to launch a battery-powered electric pickup in the U.S.
Stitch Fix executives said Tuesday (March 11) that the online personal styling service is seeing results as it continues its transformation strategy.
The company’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) merchandising tool is contributing to improved inventory management, Stitch Fix CEO Matt Baer said during an earnings call covering the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ended Feb. 1.
By predicting demand based on client transaction and feedback data, the tool helps the merchandising team make better decisions, he said.
During the second quarter, this helped the company deliver an average order value (AOV) that was 9% higher year over year, driven by in part by higher keep rates.
“The investments we’ve made to improve the quality of our assortment and ensure a healthy inventory position are working,” Baer said during the call.
Stitch Fix’s algorithms and data science are also improving its client-stylist relationships, Baer said. During the second quarter, the company enhanced its AI models to deliver better recommendations to its human stylists so that they, in turn, can deliver the right products to each client.
“In Q2, the percentage of clients requesting the same stylists for their next Fix hit the highest level in nearly five years,” Baer said during the call.
Stitch Fix continued to invest in Freestyle, an alternative to Fix that offers shoppers a curated selection of products they can buy on demand rather than through the personalized styling service.
For this offering, the company adopted more advanced, data-driven forecasting tools during the second quarter and found that they expanded its shoppable selection by more than 20% without increasing its inventory ownership.
“Initiatives such as these contributed to Freestyle returning to year-over-year growth in Q2, and we see more runway to improve future performance,” Baer said during the call.
Addressing the issue of tariffs, Baer said that Stitch Fix and its partners have experience managing tariffs and that they do not expect tariffs to affect client prices or margins in the second half of the company’s fiscal year.
“As a multibrand retailer, we also really benefit from the vast matrix of national and market brands in addition to our private brands,” Baer said. “So, if necessary, in order to mitigate any potential impact from tariffs, we are able to shift within that portfolio or within that matrix of brands really strategically.”