Pomegra
Also, the Rivian-spun-out micromobility maker, closed a $150 million Series D led by Prysm Capital to fund a push into autonomous delivery vehicles.
Key Takeaways
- Also closed a $150 million Series D led by Prysm Capital, with Eclipse, Greenoaks and MVP Ventures participating.
- The round pushes total funding to $455 million since Also spun out of Rivian in March 2025, and lifts its valuation above $1 billion.
- Capital will fund autonomous versions of Also's e-bikes and cargo quads, building on a commercial delivery deal with DoorDash.
Lead
Also, the electric micromobility company that spun out of Rivian in March 2025, has raised a $150 million Series D led by Prysm Capital, the company announced August 19, 2026. Eclipse, Greenoaks and MVP Ventures also participated in the round, which pushes Also's total funding to $455 million in under two years and lifts its valuation above $1 billion. The money will fund development of autonomous variants of the company's small electric vehicles, extending a bet that started with a $3,500 pedal-assist e-bike into self-driving delivery hardware.
What Happened?
Also closed its fourth institutional round in 17 months, this one earmarked for autonomy rather than new consumer products. The Series D follows a $200 million Series C in the spring, also backed by Prysm Capital, which included a strategic investment and commercial agreement from DoorDash to co-develop autonomous delivery vehicles. The new round adds no new lead names to that syndicate; Prysm simply moved from co-investor to lead, a sign it wants a larger claim on the company's next phase. Also said the capital will support "the simultaneous progression of multiple autonomous form factors," covering both goods and passenger movement in dense urban settings.
Why Did Prysm Move From Backer to Lead?
Prysm Capital's jump from Series C participant to Series D lead in the space of months suggests conviction rather than caution. Backing a company twice in under a year, and taking the lead the second time, is not the standard pattern for investors hedging against execution risk. It more plausibly reflects a firm trying to build ownership before a much larger and pricier round, likely tied to the robotaxi-adjacent hype currently inflating valuations across autonomous-vehicle software and hardware. The absence of a new marquee name in the syndicate is worth noting: Also's cap table is still a relatively closed circle of repeat believers, not yet the broad set of growth investors that typically show up once a startup proves out a commercial product at scale.
Strategic Context
Also began as a skunkworks project inside Rivian, driven by founder and chief executive RJ Scaringe's interest in small-format electric vehicles, before spinning out in March 2025 with $150 million in initial funding and Chris Yu, a former Rivian VP of future programs, installed as chief executive. Rivian retains a minority stake and Scaringe chairs Also's board. The company's only shipping product is a modular pedal-assist e-bike starting around $3,500, alongside a cargo quad built in partnership with Amazon for fleet delivery use across Europe and the U.S. That narrow commercial footprint makes the billion-dollar valuation aggressive: Also is pricing itself on the promise of autonomous delivery hardware, not on revenue from bikes and quads already on the road.
How Does This Compare to Rivian's Own Trajectory?
Also is following a funding cadence that echoes Rivian's early years, when Scaringe raised capital well ahead of shipping volume. The DoorDash relationship gives Also a distribution partner and a real-world testbed for autonomous delivery, similar to how other AV-adjacent startups have paired with logistics companies to generate data and revenue before regulatory clearance for full autonomy arrives. Scaringe has now raised more than $12 billion across three ventures, including Rivian and the newer robotics venture Mind. That track record likely eases fundraising for Also even as the company has yet to prove it can manufacture and certify a self-driving vehicle at commercial scale.
Market Reaction
Public reaction has centered on the valuation gap between Also's current product line and its ambitions. A $1 billion-plus mark for a two-year-old company whose flagship product is an e-bike invites comparison to earlier micromobility busts, where hardware margins proved thinner than investors expected. The counterargument is that Also is not being valued as a bike company; it is being valued as an early entrant into low-speed autonomous delivery, a category that has drawn capital from sidewalk-robot and last-mile logistics players competing for the same DoorDash- and Amazon-style commercial contracts.
Outlook
Also now has runway and investor backing to chase autonomous delivery hardware, but no shipped autonomous product yet. The next test is whether the DoorDash partnership converts into deployed fleets rather than pilot programs, and whether Prysm's larger bet draws in growth-stage investors for a future round. Until an autonomous vehicle from Also is actually operating commercially, the billion-dollar valuation remains a bet on execution speed, not evidence of it.
