Jeff Bezos is funding a secretive EV startup based mostly in Michigan known as Slate Auto that would begin manufacturing as quickly as subsequent yr, in accordance with a number of sources and paperwork that hyperlink the billionaire’s household workplace to the startup.
Slate, which took root in one other Bezos-connected firm known as Re:Construct Manufacturing, has been working quietly since its founding in 2022. The corporate has employed tons of of workers whereas in stealth — lots of whom come from Ford, Basic Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson.
It additionally attracted the backing of a number of different rich people, together with Mark Walter, the controlling proprietor of the LA Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Companions, and Thomas Tull, who’s a lead investor of Re:Construct Manufacturing, in accordance with paperwork TechCrunch obtained from Delaware’s Division of Companies.
Slate Auto is tackling an enormous aim: an reasonably priced two-seat electrical pickup truck for round $25,000, in accordance with two sources who have been granted anonymity to talk about the corporate’s inside discussions. Leaders inside the corporate have talked about the Ford Mannequin T or Volkswagen Beetle as a North Star for the mission, in accordance with the folks.
It has amassed a large struggle chest in service of that aim.
The corporate quietly raised at the very least $111 million in a Collection A spherical in 2023, in accordance with a public filing. Bezos was concerned, and Melinda Lewison, the one who manages his household workplace, is listed as a director on paperwork Slate has filed with states and the federal authorities. The submitting reveals 16 folks invested in that spherical; it’s unclear how a lot Bezos put into the corporate.
Slate has informed workers that it closed a Collection B late final yr, in accordance with a number of sources conversant in its funding. It has not but filed any paperwork for the spherical with the Securities and Trade Fee. The Delaware paperwork reveals it licensed almost 500 million most well-liked shares for the Collection B priced at $2.37 per share. (Slate additionally licensed greater than 400 million shares of widespread inventory up to now yr, although the filings didn’t state a value.)
The Delaware paperwork additionally lists Walter and Tull as new board members, suggesting the 2 invested in Slate’s Collection B spherical. The 2 recently formed a $40 billion holding firm to make investments. Walter and Tull couldn’t be reached for remark.
Slate hopes to get its car into manufacturing as quickly as late 2026 at a producing facility someplace close to Indianapolis, Indiana, in accordance with job listings, state lobbying data, and a 2024 interview with executive chairman Rodney Copes. It’s not instantly clear if Slate bought an present manufacturing unit or plans to construct one from scratch.
The clandestine mission is taking form at a difficult time for electrical automobiles.
As soon as-explosive development of the sector has cooled off, and a number of startups devoted to constructing EVs have filed for chapter. People who have survived, like Rivian and Lucid Motors, have accomplished so by burning by way of billions of {dollars}.
Slate plans to complement the small margins of its low-cost truck by constructing out a line of equipment and attire that house owners can use to customise their automobiles and their seems to be, in accordance with the sources and numerous job listings. It has stuffed its govt ranks with former Harley-Davidson and Stellantis workers — two corporations which have traditionally leaned on these sorts of ancillary companies (the previous with attire and the latter with MoPar components and equipment).
Slate is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and the startup has additionally proven off a proof of idea car to traders at a non-descript design studio it’s leasing in Lengthy Seaside, California, in accordance with the sources. It has focused high-net-worth people and saved a decent lid on its fundraising course of.
The corporate and a number of folks related to Slate, Re:Construct Manufacturing, and Bezos’ household workplace didn’t reply to repeated requests for touch upon this story. TechCrunch additionally reached out to Bezos straight and didn’t obtain a response.
Deep Amazon ties
Slate is shot by way of with Amazon DNA.
Alongside Bezos’ household workplace, Slate’s Collection A included funding from former Amazon govt Diego Piacentini, in accordance with his firm’s website.
Slate was initially created as a mission known as Re:Automotive in early 2022 inside Re:Construct Manufacturing, a home manufacturing incubator of kinds co-founded by former Amazon Shopper CEO Jeff Wilke and his MIT Leaders for Global Operations classmate Miles Arnone. A number of long-time Amazon executives, together with Wei Gao, who was a prime VP and technical adviser to Bezos, at the moment are at Re:Construct Manufacturing.
Slate’s digital, e-commerce, and automotive expertise leads are Amazon expats. Even Slate’s unique title consists of the “re:” prefix Amazon makes use of for occasions, just like the re:MARS robotics and AI convention, or the annual re:Invent gathering for AWS.
Bezos has invested in additional than 30 corporations by way of his household workplace through the years, touching the worlds of AI (Perplexity), robotics (Determine), protection (Anduril), and even mobility (Uber). Slate is without doubt one of the most direct investments he’s made on this planet of electrical automobiles exterior of the connection his firm Amazon has with Rivian.
His funding has largely been simply that, although. Folks conversant in the corporate’s internal workings informed TechCrunch that he has not been seen round Slate’s Michigan or Los Angeles workplaces.
Bucking the development
Practically all the EV startups which have come (and gone) during the last decade have tried in a roundabout way to duplicate the method Tesla took. They’ve designed their first automobiles to be high-end choices to allow them to promote fewer vehicles for extra money. Finally, after rising model consciousness, these corporations transfer into higher-volume, cheaper EVs that generate smaller margins.
Slate is inverting this by going after what it hopes will likely be a purchaser’s “first automobile,” in accordance with the individuals who spoke with TechCrunch.
The thought is to promote the truck at a value level of round $25,000, and have house owners personalize or improve the automobile over time as they’ll afford it.
In late March, Slate filed for a trademark on the phrase: “WE BUILT IT. YOU MAKE IT.” There’s a lengthy listing of products and companies it may cowl, together with the whole lot from switches and audio system to USB ports and pet harnesses.
Different particulars could be gleaned from the various job listings Slate has posted during the last two years.
One posted in 2024 hinted the corporate will dub the shopper customization course of “Slate College.” The itemizing was initially titled “College Lead” and was renamed to “Head of Buyer Training Restore & Upkeep” earlier than the startup stopped accepting functions.
“We search an enthusiastic, skilled Chief of Slate College to construct and lead our game-changing method to open-source content material for purchasers to reinforce their possession expertise,” the itemizing reads. “Because the Lead, you’ll drive the technique and ecosystem growth for the tutorial content material and supply for Slate consumers, clients, technicians, and companions.”
One other job listing for “Lead Product Supervisor, Equipment” explains that Slate is “exploring alternatives within the electrical mobility area and are constructing complimentary equipment, attire, and merchandise functionality.” It additionally mentions the individual can be overseeing the event of “utility components” and “way of life and personalization equipment.”
This method — subsidizing a low-margin manufacturing enterprise with a higher-margin equipment play — is one which has been utilized by automakers, together with Harley-Davidson with its attire division and Jeep-maker Stellantis with its Mopar components and repair division.
Unsurprisingly, Slate is already pulling expertise from each of these corporations because it builds out its group.
The startup’s govt chairman is Rodney Copes, who spent 20 years at Harley-Davidson. Chief Monetary Officer Ryan Inexperienced spent almost a decade on the finance facet of the bike producer. (Copes and Inexperienced additionally had stints at Rivian.) Slate’s heads of service, industrial, equipment product administration, and development advertising and marketing additionally labored at Harley-Davidson.
Slate apparently plans to supply its high-voltage battery pack, electrical motors, and different associated tech from exterior suppliers, in accordance with one job itemizing. The startup is “difficult the established order of auto design,” in accordance with one other itemizing for a design/launch engineer for windshield wipers. A posting for an accountant position says the individual employed must assist implement the “required programs to be a public firm.”
In response to one other position, any potential head of PR and communications: “Should love vehicles! You’ll be excited about vehicles all day on daily basis, and it’s essentially the most enjoyable while you love vehicles.”
No founder to be discovered
One other means Slate seems to be bucking the development of different EV startups is that it doesn’t have a founder serving as CEO.
Arnone is taken into account to be Slate’s founder, in accordance with the sources who spoke to TechCrunch, however his day-to-day job is serving as CEO of Re:Construct Manufacturing.
As an alternative, Slate’s CEO is Christine Barman, a longtime Chrysler veteran. She initially received into the automotive business by way of an internship at Basic Motors after attending Purdue College, in accordance with a 2023 interview.
She then spent greater than 20 years at Chrysler overseeing the car line program for the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Jeep Cherokee, in accordance with her LinkedIn profile. Barman finally grew to become the vice chairman {of electrical} and electronics for Fiat Chrysler, the place she led the automaker’s integration of Android Automotive and frolicked engaged on the corporate’s collaboration with Waymo, earlier than leaving the corporate in 2017.
Barman has not spent the final decade posting on-line like lots of her EV startup CEO friends. She as a substitute has principally been advising corporations on rising tech and educating engineering earlier than getting concerned in 2022 with what on the time was a nascent EV mission inside Re:Construct Manufacturing.
Barman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Kirsten Korosec contributed to this report.