Although it’s not over yet, the technology sector has had a banner day.
Rivian, a startup in Chicago, filed for an initial public offering valued at almost $70 billion dollars late last week. That’s the biggest equity crowdfunding company so far, even though it is just one of several startups led by billionaire Chief Executive Officer Bill Gross.
Gross’ company, Terrafugia, went public last week on the over-the-counter market, but investors are very excited about what is happening with Rivian. That’s because Rivian is transitioning from automotive development to creating its own electric vehicle at a roughly 7,000 acre facility in Chicago, where it will also manufacture electric trucks. The company doesn’t expect to make profit for the foreseeable future and so is exploring an IPO.
Like many other new car technology startups, Rivian has never logged a profit. Gross, who founded the Total Recall franchise in the 1980s and also invested in Apple and HP, has a net worth of about $6.8 billion, according to Forbes.
At a March 3 wild-eyed congress of Rivian, Gross pledged to turn the company into an established global player as well as continue making small sums of money.
A similar reception followed Tesla’s first public offering in 2010. Five years later, the stock is up more than 900 percent.
But Gross has been fundraising $100 million from at least a dozen companies in the last year, according to PitchBook data. An earlier round of raise brings the total fundraise so far to about $76 million.
Here’s a look at the market cap of other notable tech IPOs.
Company: Navient
Business: Lender to student loan borrowers
Launched IPO: November 2017
Market Cap: $17.5 billion
Company: Terrafugia
Business: Embodied vehicle tech
Launched IPO: March 3, 2019
Market Cap: $7.1 billion
Company: CoolPlanet Energy
Business: Organic waste-to-energy
Launched IPO: July 2017
Market Cap: $4.3 billion
Company: Corente
Business: Customizable mobile productivity tool
Launched IPO: April 2018
Market Cap: $3.2 billion
Company: Instacart
Business: A meal-delivery service
Launched IPO: November 2015
Market Cap: $2.6 billion