Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc opened almost 37% higher in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, giving the Amazon-backed electric vehicle maker a market valuation of nearly $93 billion and making it the second most valuable U.S. automaker.

The mammoth valuation would make Rivian bigger than General Motors Co. (GM), at $86 billion, Ford Motor Co., at about $80 billion, and Lucid Group, at $69 billion.

The stock opened at $106.75 per share, blowing past the offer price of $78 per share.

Since last year, companies in the EV space have emerged as some of the hottest investments. Including securities such as options and restricted stock units, Rivian's fully diluted valuation amounted to more than $106 billion.

Wall Street's biggest institutional investors are betting on Rivian to be the next big player in a sector dominated by Tesla amid mounting pressure on automakers in China and Europe to eliminate vehicle emissions.

Rivian's IPO comes against the backdrop of the U.N. Climate Summit, which saw automakers, airlines and governments unveil a raft of pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions from global transport.

Rivian has been investing heavily to ramp up production, doubling down on its upscale all-electric R1T pickup truck, which was launched in September.

The Irvine, California-based company plans to build at least one million vehicles a year by the end of the decade, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Founded in 2009 as Mainstream Motors by R. J. Scaringe, the company was renamed in 2011 as Rivian, a name derived from "Indian River" in Florida, a place Scaringe frequented in a rowboat as a youth.

Scaringe will hold all outstanding Class B common shares after the IPO and get 10 votes per share, Rivian said in a filing.

Rivian, also backed by Ford, priced an upsized IPO of 153 million shares at $78 per share, raising nearly $12 billion, making it one of the biggest U.S. initial public offerings.

Amazon, T. Rowe Price, Franklin Templeton, Capital Research and Blackstone are among a group of "cornerstone investors" who are indicated to buy up to $5 billion worth of shares, according to the filing.

Rivian's shares were also offered to retail investors on Social Finance Inc (SoFi). Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan were the lead underwriters for the offering.