Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Sean O’Kane / TechCrunch
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Sean O’Kane / TechCrunch
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
fundraise
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
ironware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
certificate
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
consequence
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
adjoin Us
Jeff Bezos is funding a close EV startup based in Michigan yell Slate Auto that could start production as before long as next year , according to multiple sources and documents that link the billionaire ’s family role to the startup .
Slate , which took rootage in another Bezos - connected company called Re : Build Manufacturing , has been operate restfully since its founding in 2022 . The company has hired hundreds of employees while in stealth — many of whom amount from Ford , General Motors , Stellantis , and Harley - Davidson .
It also attract the backing of several other wealthy individuals , include Mark Walter , the controlling owner of the LA Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners , and Thomas Tull , who is a lead investor of Re : Build Manufacturing , according to documents TechCrunch obtain from Delaware ’s Division of Corporations .
Slate Auto is tackling a grownup goal : an affordable two - tush electrical pickup hand truck for around $ 25,000 , grant to two sources who were deed over anonymity to talk about the troupe ’s internal discussions . Leaders inside the party have cite the Ford Model T or Volkswagen Beetle as a North Star for the task , allot to the mass .
It has amassed a tidy war chest in Robert William Service of that finish .
The company softly conjure up at least $ 111 million in a Series A rhythm in 2023 , harmonize toa public filing . Bezos was ask , and Melinda Lewison , the person who manages his family part , is listed as a director on paperwork Slate has filed with state and the federal government . The filing show 16 people invested in that round ; it is undecipherable how much Bezos put into the society .
Slate has told employee that it closed a Series B late last year , according to multiple rootage intimate with its financing . It has not yet filed any paperwork for the round with the Securities and Exchange Commission . The Delaware paperwork show up it authorized nearly 500 million pet portion for the Series B price at $ 2.37 per share . ( Slate also authorize more than 400 million share of common stock in the past year , though the filings did not state a price . )
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
The Delaware paperwork also lists Walter and Tull as new board extremity , suggesting the two adorn in Slate ’s Series B stave . The tworecently formeda $ 40 billion check fellowship to make investments . Walter and Tull could not be reach for comment .
ticket hopes to get its fomite into production as soon as late 2026 at a manufacture facility somewhere near Indianapolis , Indiana , fit in tojoblistings , res publica lobbying records , anda 2024 interview with executive chair Rodney Copes . It is not like a shot clear if Slate purchased an existing factory or plans to build one from scratch .
The hugger-mugger project is taking embodiment at a challenging time for electrical vehicles .
Once - volatile emergence of the sectorhas cooled off , and multiple startup dedicated to building EVs have filed for failure . Those that have survived , like Rivian and Lucid Motors , have done so by burning through billions of dollar .
slating plans to append the small-scale margins of its modest - cost truck by build up out a line of accessories and clothes that owners can expend to customize their vehicles and their spirit , according to the sources and various job itemization . It has fill its executive rank with former Harley - Davidson and Stellantis employees — two companies that have historically tip on these kinds of adjunct businesses ( the former with wearing apparel and the latter with MoPar parts and accessories ) .
ticket is headquartered in Troy , Michigan , and the startup has also shown off a proof of conception fomite to investors at a non - descript design studio apartment it ’s lease in Long Beach , California , according to the sources . It has place high - net - worth individuals and kept a tight eyelid on its fundraising process .
The ship’s company and multiple multitude connected to Slate , Re : Build Manufacturing , and Bezos ’ syndicate office staff did not answer to repeated asking for remark on this story . TechCrunch also reached out to Bezos directly and did not receive a response .
Deep Amazon ties
Slate is shoot through with Amazon DNA .
Alongside Bezos ’ family office , Slate ’s Series A include financial backing from former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini , according tohis firm ’s website .
Slate was initially make as a project called Re : Car in early 2022 within Re : Build Manufacturing , a domestic manufacture brooder of sort co - founded by former Amazon Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke and hisMIT Leaders for Global Operationsclassmate Miles Arnone . Several farsighted - meter Amazon executives , including Wei Gao , who was a top VP and proficient adviser to Bezos , are now at Re : Build Manufacturing .
Slate ’s digital , e - commerce , and self-propelled experience leads are Amazon expat . Even Slate ’s original name includes the “ re : ” prefix Amazon use for events , like the re : MARS robotics and AI league , or the annual re : Invent gather for AWS .
Bezos has endue in more than 30 companies through his fellowship office over the years , touching the worlds of AI ( Perplexity ) , robotics ( Figure ) , defense ( Anduril ) , and even mobility ( Uber ) . Slate is one of the most direct investments he ’s made in the world of electric fomite outside of the family relationship his fellowship Amazon has with Rivian .
His investment has mostly been just that , though . citizenry familiar with the company ’s inner workings told TechCrunch that he has not been see around Slate ’s Michigan or Los Angeles offices .
Bucking the trend
Nearly all of the EV startup that have come ( and gone ) over the last X have tried in some room to repeat the approach Tesla take . They ’ve designed their first vehicles to be high - oddment offerings so they can betray fewer cars for more money . Eventually , after growing steel cognizance , these companies move into higher - volume , flashy EVs that generate small margins .
slating is inverting this by going after what it hopes will be a purchaser ’s “ first auto , ” harmonise to the people who spoke with TechCrunch .
The idea is to sell the truck at a Mary Leontyne Price peak of around $ 25,000 , and have owner individualize or raise the railcar over time as they can afford it .
In late March , Slate register for atrademarkon the phrase : “ WE work up IT . YOU MAKE IT . ” There is a farsighted list of goods and service it could cover , including everything from shift and speakers to USB larboard and pet harness .
Other item can be gleaned from the many line of work listings Slate has posted over the last two years .
Onepostedin 2024 hint the company will dub the client customization process “ Slate University . ” The listing was in the first place titled “ University Lead ” and was rename to “ Head of Customer Education Repair & Maintenance ” before the startup block accept software .
“ We seek an enthusiastic , experient Leader of Slate University to build and extend our biz - changing approaching to open - source mental object for client to enhance their ownership experience , ” the listing show . “ As the Lead , you will drive the scheme and ecosystem development for the educational content and delivery for Slate shoppers , customers , technicians , and partners . ”
Another joblistingfor “ Lead Product Manager , Accessories ” explains that Slate is “ exploring opportunity in the electric mobility space and are building complimentary accessories , clothes , and merchandise capability . ” It also cite the person would be overseeing the developing of “ utility share ” and “ lifestyle and personalization accouterment . ”
This approach — subsidizing a low - border manufacturing business with a higher - margin accessories act as — is one that has been used by automakers , include Harley - Davidson with its apparel air division and landrover - maker Stellantis with its Mopar parts and service naval division .
Unsurprisingly , Slate is already pull experience from both of those companies as it builds out its squad .
The startup ’s executive chairman is Rodney Copes , who drop 20 years at Harley - Davidson . Chief Financial Officer Ryan Green drop nearly a decade on the finance side of the motorcycle producer . ( Copes and Green also had Erolia minutilla at Rivian . ) Slate ’s heads of service , commercial , accessories product management , and growth marketing also worked at Harley - Davidson .
Slate apparently plans to source its high-pitched - voltage barrage fire plurality , electric motors , and other related technical school from external suppliers , concord to one Book of Job list . The startup is “ challenging the condition quo of vehicle intent , ” according to another listing for a design / release railroad engineer for windscreen wipers . A mailing for an accountant role says the soul engage would have to help implement the “ required systems to be a public company . ”
accord to another persona , any prospective head of PR and communications : “ Must roll in the hay cars ! You ’ll be thinking about cars all day every day , and it ’s the most fun when you love cars . ”
No founder to be found
Another way Slate looks like bucking the drift of other EV startup is that it does not have a beginner serving as CEO .
Arnone is study to be Slate ’s laminitis , according to the source who speak to TechCrunch , but his day - to - day caper is serving as CEO of Re : Build Manufacturing .
Instead , Slate ’s CEO is Christine Barman , a longtime Chrysler veteran . She initially got into the automotive diligence through an internship at General Motors after attend Purdue University , according to a 2023interview .
She then spent more than 20 years at Chrysler overseeing the vehicle business program for the Chrysler 300 , Dodge Charger , and Jeep Cherokee , according to her LinkedIn visibility . Barman finally became the frailty president of electrical and electronics for Fiat Chrysler , where she led the carmaker ’s integration of Android Automotive and spend time mould on the company ’s collaboration with Waymo , before leaving the company in 2017 .
Barman has not spend the last ten posting online like many of her EV startup chief executive officer peers . She instead has mostly been advising companies on come out tech and teaching engine room before getting affect in 2022 with what at the time was a nascent EV labor within Re : Build Manufacturing .
Barman did not respond to a postulation for comment .
Kirsten Korosec contributed to this report .
