Investors can’t get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas.
In less than a decade, Rivian, a serial entrepreneur best known for his EV company, has raised more than $12.3 billion from venture capital firms, as well as strategic and institutional investors for his three and counting startups. If the latest 400 million dollars increase an indication for his new venture Mind Robotics that investors are still piling in with gusto.
In recent years, big raises have become more common for newly formed startups. But those hundred million-plus seed rounds are generally reserved for powerful defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees.
Those big seeds certainly didn’t flow into something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for just that – a startup called Alsofounded in the same year. It’s just more than that 300 million dollarswith DoorDash among its backers.
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief development officer at Rivian, spent years watching and studying Scaringe. His company is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading both Also and Mind Robotics, an industrial artificial intelligence and robotics startup that Scaringe also founded last year.
Storytelling and communication are among her superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Riviana when the company had just a few employees.
“When RJ is explaining a particular issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he has a very unique ability to communicate so effectively that it seems very credible,” Behl said. “He doesn’t try to play down the challenge or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly raise large amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. Scaringe, a self-professed car enthusiast with a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT, joins a small group of entrepreneurs including Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey (who found the Twitter).
The difference, at least according to some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he can separate selling his idea from selling himself. “He’s very comfortable and confident in his own persona and he’s not trying to be Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to draw comparisons over the years.
“It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he’s absolutely passionate about the foreign product.”
Sure, there’s confidence and even a bit of ego, the same source opined, but “it doesn’t weigh you down.” The source added that Scaringe has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room – a feeling that others mirror.
Such undivided attention in a manufacturer to investor, supplier or executive is a challenge on the scale that Scaringe is attempting. He runs three companies that often travel between Palo Alto, Rivia’s factory in Irvine, Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there’s family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping to attract investment and manage these related but distinct businesses.
He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a really great engineer and also has an exceptional instinct for product design.” “Few founders can operate at this level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers – both consumers and commercial buyers. This combination is incredibly unusual and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s, and now Also and Mind’s, products so different.”
Scaringe’s fundraising pace over the past eight years has been particularly remarkable and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
More than $11 billion, and the largest portion of VC and strategic capital to date, has flowed into Rivian – much of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. It’s a surprising timeline, especially considering that the company, originally called Mainstream Motors, has been around since 2009. breaking point At the Los Angeles Auto Show in late 2018, it showed off the all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV prototypes.
Money flowed quickly and from all directions. In early 2019, and just a few months after that announcement, Rivian raised a $700 million funding round. Powered by Amazon. US automaker Ford plans to invest $500 million and collaborate on a canceled future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed 350 million dollars. Rivian will close the year with a $1.3 billion round — Fourth in 2019 — Managed by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from funds managed by Amazon, Ford and BlackRock.
Rivian in July 2020 attracted 2.5 billion dollars and other 2.65 billion dollars six months later. As whispers of an IPO intensify, Rivian has joined Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point closed another $2.5 billion private financing round led by funds and accounts advised by Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneerat Investment Group.
Then came the IPO. After earning $78 per share, Rivian had gross revenue of about $12 billion. When it debuted on the Nasdaq in November 2021, its market capitalization reached $100 billion. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion, reflecting the broader struggles of the EV sector.
The ability to raise so much capital, despite these headwinds, is exceptional. But Scaringe was not satisfied with Rivian. If anything, the pace has quickened. Also Mind Robotics has collectively raised more than $1.3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving particularly fast: $115 million in its first year, 500 million dollars in March and another $400 million this week alone.
Rivian also has a $5.8 billion joint venture with the Volkswagen Group and a robotaxi partnership With Uber valued at up to $1.25 billion.
“The big question now is how much can he do?” Behl said. “It’s a question that assumes he’s already reached his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t look at it that way. His perspective is that there’s great value to be created, there’s great impact to be created, and I just have to do it.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
