It was big day for Rivian as its shares started trading in New York under the RIVN ticker symbol. The EV maker raised about $11.9 billion in what was the biggest initial public offering of the year and the sixth-largest ever on a US exchange.

In a November 9 statement, the Irvine, California-based carmaker confirmed it sold 153 million shares in an upsized offering at $78 per share, way above its raised expectations of $72–$74 a share.

The price was higher than the top end of the marketed range and based on the share count, Rivian is now valued at about $76.4 billion on a fully diluted basis that accounts for stock options. For comparison, in January the company had a valuation of $27.6 billion after a $2.65 billion funding round.

“Rivian’s Class A common stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on November 10, 2021, under the ticker symbol ‘RIVN.’ The offering is expected to close on November 15, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.”

Rivian press release

Gallery: 2022 Rivian R1T: First Drive Review

Bloomberg estimates that as much as $5 billion of the IPO shares are set to be bought by Rivian’s biggest 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 plans to allocate up to 7 percent of its shares to eligible US customers who had pre-orders as of September 30. As a result, up to 0.4 percent of the IPO shares will be allocated to SoFi Securities LLC’s online brokerage platform.

The IPO comes after Rivian started deliveries of R1T electric pickups to customers (mostly its employees) in September and the news that the company will only make about 1,200 vehicles by year-end at its plant in Normal, Illinois. The company estimates that annual production will reach 150,000 vehicles at its main factory by late 2023.

Rivian lost nearly $1 billion in the first half of the year compared with a $377 million deficit a year earlier, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to the IPO. The EV maker expected to post a net loss of as much as $1.28 billion in Q3 due to costs associated with the start of production of the R1T.