(Reuters) – Electric vehicle startup Rivian, backed by Amazon.com Inc and Ford Motor Co, said on Monday that South Korean manufacturer Samsung SDI Co Limited would supply battery cells for its vehicles.
Rivian, which aims to put an electric pickup and SUV in production this year, said it had been working with Samsung throughout the process of developing the battery cells.
“We’re excited about the performance and reliability of Samsung SDI battery cells combined with our energy-dense module and pack design,” said RJ Scaringe, chief executive officer of Rivian.
The U.S.-based startup has raised $8 billion since the start of 2019 and added $2.65 billion funding in an investment round led by T. Rowe Price in January.
The Tesla Inc rival has been in talks with bankers about its plans to go public and is aiming for an initial public offering in September at a valuation of about $50 billion or more, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year.
(Reporting by Nilanjana Basu in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
