Benzinga | Feb 11, 2021 12:26AM EST

Tesla Rival Rivian Prepares To Go Public This Year At $50B Valuation: Report

Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)-backed Rivian Automotive Inc may go public as early as September, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

What Happened: The California-based automaker -- also backed by Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) -- could achieve a valuation of nearly $50 billion or more, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock

The IPO timing is not certain and the listing could occur in late 2021 or even 2022, according to Bloomberg's sources.

The automaker has reportedly been in negotiations with banks about its IPO plans.

Why It Matters: The Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) rival is valued at $27.6 billion, as of its latest funding round in January, noted Bloomberg.

Amazon has an agreement with Rivian for the delivery of 100,000 electric delivery vans as it strives to be carbon neutral by 2040.

EV makers have gone public of late through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies.

Fuel-Cell truck startup Hyzon Motors announced a merger with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:DCRB) on Tuesday.

Last year, Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA) merged with VectoIQ, a SPAC that raised more than $700 million.

California-based Lucid Motors is speculated to be pondering a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IV (NYSE:CCIV). Peter Rawlinson, Lucid's CEO refused comments on the possible merger last week.

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Photo courtesy: Richard Truesdell via Wikimedia