[HN Gopher] Rivian S-1
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       Rivian S-1
        
       Author : gadnuk
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2021-10-01 22:11 UTC (49 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.sec.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.sec.gov)
        
       | Max-20 wrote:
       | I invested this week in $GGPI/Polestar, they are a swedish EV
       | company that already delivered 20k cars. Valuation is $20b or
       | 1/4th of Rivian: https://www.datocms-
       | assets.com/11286/1632735805-210927-poles...
        
         | nemothekid wrote:
         | Interesting, do you have any idea how that works. I thought
         | Polestar was a brand/subsidiary of Volvo?
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | ardit33 wrote:
           | No, owned by Geely, which owns Volvo as well. It is an
           | attempt from Geely to gain foothold in the western markets
           | without being associated as a chinese brand, but as a swedish
           | one.
        
             | chrisseaton wrote:
             | I think it's more complicated than that - it was certainly
             | owned entirely be Volvo as recently as 2015 and seems to
             | share basically all engineering resources with Volvo. Seems
             | like a funny attempt somewhere to make it seem like
             | something other than Volvo - not sure why as Volvo has a
             | reputation that's basically good enough already.
        
         | ardit33 wrote:
         | Polestar is Chinese owned brand(Geely), and their polestar cars
         | are basically the Volvo xc40 ev version. (that's why their
         | sedan is so tall/high ground clearance).
         | 
         | They have yet to build a fully independent ev first platform.
        
       | prescriptivist wrote:
       | Scrolling through this I see a fair amount of references to
       | subscription products as a long term growth strategy. HN
       | sentiment seems pretty positive about Rivian so I'm curious what
       | folks here feel about that aspect of their business?
       | 
       | In particular if one juxtaposes that strategy against what I
       | perceive to be a general anti John Deere sentiment around here
       | vis-a-vie subscriptions and their always-on products.
        
       | seattle_spring wrote:
       | Exciting. Definitely a company I believe in.
        
       | purple_ferret wrote:
       | Why go public with no revenue whatsoever? Unable to raise money
       | privately?
        
       | TradingPlaces wrote:
       | Most interesting tidbit:
       | 
       | We expect that a significant portion of our initial revenue will
       | be from one customer that is an affiliate of one of our principal
       | stockholders.
       | 
       | If we are unable to maintain this relationship, or if this
       | customer purchases significantly fewer vehicles than we currently
       | anticipate or none at all, our business, prospects, financial
       | condition, results of operations and cash flows could be
       | materially and adversely affected. To date, we have generated
       | minimal revenue from the initial sales of our R1T vehicles and
       | have not generated any revenue from the sales of our other
       | vehicles. Our future success depends on us commencing commercial
       | sales and attracting a large number of customers for our
       | vehicles. In the near-term, however, we expect that a significant
       | portion of our revenue will be from Amazon Logistics, Inc.
       | ("Logistics"). Amazon is the parent company of both Logistics and
       | Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC ("NV Holdings"), which owns
       | approximately % of our voting power as of , 2021. In February
       | 2019, we entered into a commercial letter agreement with Amazon,
       | and in September 2019, we entered into a related framework
       | agreement with Logistics. We refer to these agreements, together
       | with any work orders, purchase orders, related agreements and
       | amendments thereunder or thereto, collectively, as the "EDV
       | Agreement." Under the EDV Agreement, we and Logistics have agreed
       | to collaborate to design, develop, manufacture, and supply EDVs
       | and/or certain component parts and related services for use in
       | Amazon's last mile delivery operations. We also have agreed under
       | the EDV Agreement that until the fourth anniversary of when
       | Logistics first receives EDVs (the "Initial Delivery Date"),
       | whether or not Logistics purchases any EDVs from us, we will
       | exclusively provide last mile delivery vehicles to Amazon, and
       | from the fourth anniversary to the sixth anniversary of the
       | Initial Delivery Date, Amazon will have a right of first refusal
       | to purchase last mile delivery vehicles that we produce. Under
       | the EDV Agreement, Logistics has the right to decide how many
       | EDVs to purchase, which may be fewer than expected, or delay the
       | delivery of such purchases. Certain factors outside of our
       | control may influence Logistics' decision as to the number of
       | EDVs to purchase from us and the timing of delivery, including
       | Logistics' ability to deploy a charging infrastructure across
       | their delivery stations.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | It's getting a bit crowed in the EV market-space and some EV
       | makers like Rivian need to do more than their competitors
       | otherwise they will end up being yet another EV maker, which now
       | is not enough.
       | 
       | The Amazon fleet partnership is very positive and several other
       | deals in Europe too. However, Rivian just needs other ways to
       | utilise its technology just like what NIO is currently doing in
       | China.
       | 
       | If Rivian follows that path and avoids being just a generic EV
       | maker, then its stock is a straight buy in my books but I would
       | hold for now and see what the competitors (especially Lucid
       | Motors) are also doing first in October.
        
       | epa wrote:
       | $3B cash on hand and spending $1B per year. They will raise $5B
       | runway.
        
       | lemming wrote:
       | I don't usually follow these things, but wouldn't it be unusual
       | for a company to go public before actually releasing a product?
        
         | dragontamer wrote:
         | Moderna went public before it had any product available.
         | 
         | EDIT: I'm not saying that Rivian would be as good a purchase as
         | Moderna but... yeah. This sort of thing has become way more
         | common in recent years. This is definitely the high-risk /
         | high-reward area of investing: buying companies that you don't
         | even know work or not yet (Moderna IPO'd in 2018, long before
         | COVID19 even existed. There was pretty much no way to know it'd
         | be the miracle drug to a non-existent disease just two years
         | later)
         | 
         | On the other hand: Moderna's success shows why the stock market
         | is a magical thing. The money pumped into Moderna through the
         | IPO allowed it get the money needed to build up its research
         | facilities, in effect preparing for COVID19 even before the
         | disease appeared.
         | 
         | --------
         | 
         | "Going public" means one thing and one thing only: the company
         | wants money, and they think bonds (aka: borrowing money from a
         | bank) is a bad value. Its still up to the investor to decide if
         | giving money to the company is a worthwhile trade.
        
           | Kkoala wrote:
           | Also a sign that things might be overheating
        
         | cptskippy wrote:
         | How long does it take to go public? They're asking to go ASAP
         | but is that days, weeks, months from now?
         | 
         | They're shipping the founders edition preorders in November.
        
         | postingawayonhn wrote:
         | They started production about 2 weeks ago and have made a few
         | deliveries to early employees.
        
         | karanbhangui wrote:
         | Yes, and also Rivian has production pickup truck and Amazon
         | delivery vans....
        
       | slownews45 wrote:
       | Finally something that is not a straight scam (in my opinion).
       | 
       | I know folks are saying Trevor and Nikola Motors have some sort
       | of ground breaking hydrogen tech - but some of these other folks,
       | despite their market caps, seem like so much trash and hype.
       | 
       | Not sure these folks will turn out better, but at least there
       | seems to be something of some substance here from folks with some
       | experience.
        
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