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 his three — and counting — startups from venture capital firms as well as strategic and institutional investors. If the latest $400 million raise for its new venture Mind Robotics is any indication, investors are still piling in with glee.

In recent years, scaling up has become common for fledgling startups. But those hundred million-plus seed rounds have typically been earmarked for buzzy defense tech startups or AI companies founded by OpenAI or Anthropic employees.

Those oversized seeds certainly weren’t drifting toward a niche like an electric micromobility startup. And yet in 2025, Scaringe raised $105 million for exactly that – a so-called startup. toowhich he founded in the same year. DoorDash’s backers have since surpassed $300 million in total.

Jeetan Bahl, partner at Eclipse and former chief growth officer at Rivian, has spent years watching and learning about Scaringe. His firm is now one of Scaringe’s biggest backers, leading Also and Mind Robotics – Scaringe’s industrial AI and robotics startup that he also founded last year.

Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Bahl, who joined Raven when the company had just a handful of employees.

“When RJ explains a particular issue, topic, opportunity, point of view, he has this very unique ability to communicate so effectively, and it’s very believable,” Bahl said. “He’s not trying to downplay the difficulty or oversell the opportunity, and that’s an art.”

Scaringe isn’t the only serial entrepreneur to repeatedly attract large-scale capital, but founders who can raise billions across multiple ventures remain rare. A self-made car enthusiast who earned a 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 B., better known as Twitter.

The difference, at least according to some investors TechCrunch spoke to, is that he’s able to sell the idea of ​​selling himself. “He’s very relaxed and confident in his personality, and he’s not trying to be Elon,” Bahl said, noting that many people have tried to make the comparison over the years.

“It’s not about that,” another insider familiar with Scaringe’s companies told TechCrunch. “When you talk to him, he’s excited about a product that’s completely foreign.”

Of course, there is confidence and even a little ego, the same means used, but “it does not weigh you down.” The source also said Scaringe has a unique ability to make you feel like the most special person in the room – a sentiment echoed by others.

Giving such undivided attention to an investor, supplier, or manufacturer implementer is a challenge on the scale that Scaringe is attempting. He runs three companies, often traveling between Raven’s factory in Palo Alto, Irvine, Normal, Illinois, and another factory soon 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 with helping him attract investment and advance these connected, yet different businesses.

He noted that Scaringe has “the rare combination of being a really great engineer as well as an extraordinary instinct for product design,” said Fath, who previously worked at giant Rivian Baker T. Rowe Price. “Few founders can operate at this level technically while also understanding what resonates emotionally with consumers and business buyers. This combination is incredibly unusual and has clearly been part of what makes Rivian’s products, and still minds, so different.”

Scaringe’s fundraising pace over the past eight years has been particularly remarkable and seems to be showing no signs of slowing down.

More than $11 billion, and by far the largest chunk of VC and strategic capital, went into Rivian — much of it between 2018 and its blockbuster IPO in 2021. That’s a staggering timeline, especially considering the company, initially called Mainstream Motors, has been around since 2009. For years, Rivian operated as a small breakout, as long as its name remained unknown. 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when it revealed prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV.

Money soon flowed, and from every direction. In early 2019 and a few months after its unveiling, Raven raised a $700 million funding round led by Amazon. American carmaker Ford will invest $500 million and plans to contribute to the EV program in the future. Cox Automotive contributed $350 million. Rivian will close the year with a $1.3 billion round — its fourth in 2019 — through funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with additional participation from funds managed by Amazon, Ford, and BlackRock.

In July 2020, Raven raised $2.5 billion and six months later another $2.65 billion. As whispers of an IPO gather pace, Rivian has joined Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor, and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Third Point, a fidelity management and research company, closed another $2.5 billion private funding round led by Dragoneer and Counter-advised funds and accounts.

Then came the IPO. Raven raised nearly $12 billion in gross revenue after locking in at $78 per share. When it debuted on Nasdaq in November 2021, its market cap reached $100 billion. Today, it stands at $18.2 billion, a significant drop that also reflects the broader struggles of the EV sector.

The ability to raise so much capital, despite these chills, is extraordinary. But Scaringe didn’t stop with Rivian. If anything, the pace has accelerated. Together, Neez and Mind Robotics have raised more than $1.3 billion so far, with Mind Robotics moving particularly quickly: $115 million in its first year, $500 million in March, and another $400 million this week.

Raven also continues to garner notable backers through high-profile deals such as a $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group and a $1.25 billion robotaxi partnership with Uber.

“Now, the big question is how much can he do?” Bahl said. “That’s a question. [that] already assumes that he is reaching his limit. The thing is, he doesn’t see it that way. His point of view is that there is great value in creating, there is great impact to be had, and I just have to do it.”