VC Firm Eclipse Lures Another Rivian Alum in Push to Modernize US Industry

(Bloomberg) -- Silicon Valley investment firm Eclipse has hired another high-profile Rivian Automotive Inc. alumnus, building up its expertise to invest in modernizing industries including manufacturing and transportation.

Jiten Behl, formerly Rivian’s chief growth officer and one of its first employees, has joined Eclipse as a partner based in California. He has no prior experience in venture investing, but will focus on areas he’s familiar with such as transport and energy.

“We’re looking for founders looking to upset these massive industries. and then find applicability globally,” Behl said in a Bloomberg Television interview. He added that he wants to leverage his experience from Rivian “taking the company from zero to one” to guide founders.

While many venture firms are increasingly interested in software and artificial intelligence, Palo Alto, California-based Eclipse is focusing on areas such as manufacturing, supply chains, transportation and electrification. It raised $1.2 billion for two new funds less than a year ago and has since backed a surveillance satellite startup and battery-electric boat company.

Behl began working at Rivian in 2016, while the EV maker was a fledgling startup in stealth mode, and left last September. In that time, he helped Rivian launch two consumer EVs and a van for Amazon.com Inc., its biggest investor. He also helped the EV maker navigate an awkward walk-back on raising prices in 2022 for existing reservation holders. Behl is a close acquaintance of Rivian Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe.

One of the big lessons he learned from Rivian is that founders need to ask the question, “why does the world need another company in that segment?”

“Even as you get money, it is important to detail that focus. Most startups don’t fail because of starvation, it is because of indigestion,” Behl said in the interview.

One of Eclipse’s existing partners is Charly Mwangi, a former manufacturing executive at Rivian and Tesla Inc. Mwangi helps lead the VC firm’s pursuit of startups in their earliest stages.

The firm also employs other alumni of Tesla: Greg Reichow spent five years at Elon Musk’s company from 2011 until 2016, as vice president of production.

(Adds comments from Bloomberg TV interview.)

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