Also raises $150M, hits $1B valuation with e-bike as entry point to autonomous delivery

Also's path to a $1 billion valuation in two years reflects a deliberate strategy to use micromobility as a beachhead for autonomous vehicles. The company emerged from Rivian in early 2025 with $105 million in funding at spinout, followed by a $200 million Series C earlier this year led by Greenoaks, and now this $150 million Series D—a rapid accumulation of capital tied directly to scaling autonomous platforms. Founder Chris Yu's background as a former Specialized bike product chief with aerospace experience, combined with Rivian founder RJ Scaringe's involvement, suggests the business model was engineered for this trajectory from the outset.

The e-bike skepticism in the broader market is real: Rad Power Bikes went bankrupt, Juiced Bikes collapsed, and Porsche exited the category. Yet Also is insulating itself by pivoting hard toward commercial robotics. Its partnerships with Amazon and a multi-year agreement with DoorDash are not marketing exercises but the foundation of a revenue base that transcends consumer e-bike volatility. The global micromobility market—valued around $50 billion and projected to more than double by the early 2030s—provides the context, but Also's real opportunity lies in the autonomy angle that those partnerships unlock.

Rivian's role as a non-controlling shareholder and data source is equally strategic. Its on-road fleet generates the real-world driving data Also needs to train autonomous systems for urban environments. Yu's argument that dense cities benefit from purpose-built small EVs rather than full-size vehicles repurposed for small loads has both environmental and economic logic; the question is whether Also's hardware, software, and commercial relationships can execute at scale.