RJ Scaringe has raised more than $12B across three startups and investors still want more
RJ Scaringe has raised more than $12B across three startups and investors still want more
RJ Scaringe 在三家初创公司中筹集了超过 120 亿美元，投资者依然趋之若鹜
Investors can’t seem to get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas. In less than a decade, the serial entrepreneur best known for his EV company Rivian has raised more than $12.3 billion from venture capital firms, as well as from strategic and institutional investors for his three — and counting — startups. If the latest $400 million raise for his new venture Mind Robotics is an indicator, investors are still happily piling in.
投资者似乎对 RJ Scaringe 本人及其想法永远感到“不够”。在不到十年的时间里，这位以电动汽车公司 Rivian 而闻名的连续创业者，已为其三家（且还在增加）初创公司从风险投资机构、战略投资者和机构投资者手中筹集了超过 123 亿美元的资金。如果他为新创企业 Mind Robotics 最近筹集的 4 亿美元融资是一个风向标的话，那么投资者依然乐于蜂拥而至。
Outsized raises for newly minted startups have become more common in recent years. But those hundred-million-plus seed rounds have generally been reserved for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by former OpenAI or Anthropic employees. Those supersized seeds certainly weren’t flowing toward something as niche as an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for exactly that — a startup called Also, which he founded that same year. The total has since surpassed $300 million, with DoorDash among its backers.
近年来，新成立的初创公司获得巨额融资已变得司空见惯。但那些超过一亿美元的种子轮融资通常只留给热门的国防科技初创公司，或是由 OpenAI 或 Anthropic 前员工创立的 AI 公司。这些超大规模的种子轮资金显然不会流向电动微出行（micromobility）这种小众领域。然而在 2025 年，Scaringe 却为一家名为 Also 的初创公司筹集了 1.05 亿美元，而这家公司正是他在同年创立的。此后，该公司的融资总额已超过 3 亿美元，DoorDash 也是其支持者之一。
Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning from Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading rounds in both Also and Mind Robotics — Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.
Eclipse 合伙人、Rivian 前首席增长官 Jiten Behl 多年来一直在观察并向 Scaringe 学习。他的公司现在是 Scaringe 最大的支持者之一，领投了 Also 和 Mind Robotics 的多轮融资——Mind Robotics 是 Scaringe 去年创立的另一家工业 AI 和机器人初创公司。
Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees. “When RJ explains a certain issue, topic, opportunity, vision, he just has this very unique ability to communicate it so effectively, and it comes across so credible,” Behl said. “He’s not trying to undersell the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”
据在 Rivian 仅有几名员工时就加入的 Behl 称，讲故事和沟通是 Scaringe 的超能力之一。“当 RJ 解释某个问题、主题、机会或愿景时，他有一种非常独特的能力，能将其表达得如此有效，且让人感到非常可信，”Behl 说，“他不会试图低估困难，也不会夸大机会，这是一种艺术。”
Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract massive amounts of capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-professed car enthusiast who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT, Scaringe joins a small cadre of entrepreneurs that includes Tesla CEO and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anduril and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and Jack Dorsey, who founded Square (now called Block) and Twitter.
Scaringe 并不是唯一一个能反复吸引巨额资本的连续创业者，但能在多个创业项目中筹集数十亿美元的创始人依然凤毛麟角。作为一名自称的汽车发烧友，Scaringe 拥有麻省理工学院（MIT）机械工程博士学位，他跻身于少数精英创业者行列，其中包括特斯拉 CEO 兼 SpaceX 联合创始人埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）、OpenAI CEO 山姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）、Anduril 和 Oculus 创始人帕尔默·拉奇（Palmer Luckey），以及创立了 Square（现更名为 Block）和 Twitter 的杰克·多西（Jack Dorsey）。
The difference, at least in the view of some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he is able to separate selling the idea from selling himself. “He is very comfortable and confident in his own personality, and he’s not trying to be an Elon,” Behl said, noting that many have tried to make the comparison over the years. “It’s not about him,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he has enthusiasm about the product that is completely external.”
至少在 TechCrunch 采访的一些投资者看来，他的不同之处在于他能够将“推销想法”与“推销自己”区分开来。“他对自己的个性感到非常舒适和自信，他并不想成为下一个埃隆，”Behl 说，并指出多年来许多人都试图进行这种比较。“这与他个人无关，”另一位熟悉 Scaringe 旗下公司的内部人士告诉 TechCrunch，“当你与他交谈时，他对产品的热情完全是外向的。”
Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same source mused, but “it doesn’t weigh on you.” The source also added that Scaringe has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room — a sentiment others echoed. Giving that kind of undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or exec at a manufacturer is a challenge at the scale Scaringe is attempting. He is running three companies, often traveling between Palo Alto, Irvine, Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, and a second factory soon to open in Georgia. And then there is family — Scaringe has three sons with his ex-wife.
当然，他也有自信，甚至有一点自负，该消息人士沉思道，但“这不会让你感到压力。”该消息人士还补充说，Scaringe 有一种独特的能力，能让你觉得自己是房间里最特别的人——其他人也表达了同样的感受。在 Scaringe 尝试的这种规模下，要对投资者、供应商或制造商高管给予这种全神贯注的关注是一项挑战。他同时经营着三家公司，经常往返于帕洛阿尔托、尔湾、Rivian 位于伊利诺伊州诺默尔的工厂，以及即将于佐治亚州开设的第二家工厂之间。此外还有家庭因素——Scaringe 与前妻育有三个儿子。
Joe Fath, another partner at Eclipse, credits his open-mindedness and collaborative nature for helping him attract investment and juggle these connected, yet disparate businesses. He noted that Scaringe also “has the rare combination of being a truly great engineer while also having an exceptional instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at a major Rivian backer, T. Rowe Price. “Very few founders can operate at that level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with customers — both consumers and commercial buyers. That combination is incredibly uncommon and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and now Also and Mind’s, so differentiated.”
Eclipse 的另一位合伙人 Joe Fath 将他能够吸引投资并兼顾这些相互关联但又各不相同的业务归功于他的开放心态和协作天性。曾就职于 Rivian 主要支持者 T. Rowe Price 的 Fath 指出，Scaringe 还“拥有罕见的结合点：既是一位真正伟大的工程师，又对产品设计有着卓越的直觉。”他说：“很少有创始人能在技术层面达到这种水平，同时又能理解什么能与客户（无论是消费者还是商业买家）产生情感共鸣。这种结合极其罕见，显然也是 Rivian 的产品，以及现在的 Also 和 Mind 的产品如此与众不同的原因之一。”
The pace of Scaringe’s fundraising over the past eight years is particularly notable and doesn’t seem to be slowing. More than $11 billion, and by far the largest slice of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — most of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a startling timeline, especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, had existed since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small, unknown entity until its breakout moment in late 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.
Scaringe 在过去八年中的融资速度尤为引人注目，且似乎并未放缓。超过 110 亿美元（这是迄今为止风险投资和战略资本中最大的一块）投入了 Rivian——其中大部分发生在 2018 年至 2021 年其重磅 IPO 之间。这是一个令人震惊的时间线，尤其是考虑到该公司最初名为 Mainstream Motors，自 2009 年以来就已经存在。多年来，Rivian 一直是一家默默无闻的小公司，直到 2018 年底在洛杉矶车展上迎来爆发时刻，当时它展示了其全电动 R1T 卡车和 R1S SUV 的原型车。
The money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and just a couple of months after that reveal, Rivian raised a $700 million funding round led by Amazon. U.S. automaker Ford would invest $500 million and make plans to collaborate on a since-scrapped future EV program. Cox Automotive contributed $350 million. Rivian would close out the year with a $1.3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by BlackRock.
资金很快从四面八方涌入。2019 年初，即那次发布会仅仅几个月后，Rivian 完成了由亚马逊领投的 7 亿美元融资。美国汽车制造商福特投资了 5 亿美元，并计划在后来被取消的一个未来电动汽车项目上进行合作。Cox Automotive 贡献了 3.5 亿美元。Rivian 在年底完成了 13 亿美元的融资——这是其 2019 年的第四轮融资——由 T. Rowe Price Associates 提供咨询的基金和账户领投，亚马逊、福特以及贝莱德（BlackRock）管理的基金也参与其中。
In July 2020, Rivian raised $2.5 billion and another $2.65 billion six months later. As whispers of an IPO got louder, Rivian closed another $2.5 billion private funding round led by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Coatue also participated.
2020 年 7 月，Rivian 筹集了 25 亿美元，六个月后又筹集了 26.5 亿美元。随着 IPO 的传言愈演愈烈，Rivian 又完成了一轮 25 亿美元的私募融资，由亚马逊的“气候承诺基金”（Climate Pledge Fund）、D1 Capital Partners、福特汽车以及 T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. 提供咨询的基金和账户领投。Third Point、富达管理研究公司（Fidelity Management and Research Company）、Dragoneer Investment Group 和 Coatue 也参与了投资。
Then the IPO came. Rivian raised nearly $12 billion in gross proceeds after locking in $78 per share. Its market cap hit $100 billion when it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion, a significant comedown that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector. The ability to raise that much capital, despite those headwinds, is exceptional. But Scarin…
随后 IPO 到来。Rivian 以每股 78 美元的价格锁定了近 120 亿美元的总收益。2021 年 11 月在纳斯达克上市时，其市值达到了 1000 亿美元。如今，其市值为 182 亿美元，这一显著下滑也反映了整个电动汽车行业的困境。尽管面临这些逆风，仍能筹集到如此巨额的资本，实属难得。但 Scarin…