GoKawiilIf you haven’t heard, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has another company — his third by our count. And this time it’s focused on robotics.
The serial entrepreneur is best known for Rivian, the buzzy EV maker that was thrust into the spotlight in 2018 after debuting an electric truck with its now-famous gear tunnel.
The publicly traded company is now a few months away from delivering its most important EV yet, a mid-sized SUV called the R2. This EV is cheaper to build than its flagship R1 counterpart (Scaringe tells me “roughly half” the cost), and yet, in many ways is more technologically capable. It will also be cheaper for buyers; the first version of the R2 will start at $57,990, 20% cheaper than its base R1T pickup.
And then there’s Also, the micromobility startup that began as a skunkworks program within Rivian and spun out last year backed by VC money. Also, which Rivian maintains a minority stake in, launched a pedal-assist modular electric bike and cargo quad vehicle last October. Scaringe is deeply involved with that startup as well.
Now, Scaringe has robotics on his mind. And he aptly named his new startup Mind Robotics, which I learned was not its original name. (More on that below.)
Mind Robotics was not born within the walls of Rivian, although the automaker may someday be a customer. Mind Robotics is a private company founded by Scaringe that recently raised a $500 million Series A round co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The company, which has raised $615 million since its founding in November 2025, is now valued at about $2 billion.
I sat down with Scaringe on the sidelines of South by Southwest, of which his company is the primary sponsor, to talk about everything he’s working on. The Q&A below, which has been edited for brevity and clarity, focuses on our discussion about robotics and how his new startup is taking a new approach.
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