Inside the EV startup secretly backed by Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is funding a secretive EV startup based in Michigan called Slate Auto that could start production as soon as next year, according to multiple sources and documents that link the billionaire's family office to the startup.
Slate, which took root in another Bezos-connected company called Re:Build Manufacturing, has been operating quietly since its founding in 2022. The company has hired hundreds of employees while in stealth — many of whom come from Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson.
It also attracted the backing of several other wealthy individuals, including 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 obtained from Delaware's Division of Corporations.
Slate Auto is tackling a big goal: an affordable two-seat electric pickup truck for around $25,000, according to two sources who were granted anonymity to speak about the company's internal discussions. Leaders inside the company have mentioned the Ford Model T or Volkswagen Beetle as a North Star for the project, according to the people.
It has amassed a sizable war chest in service of that goal.
The company quietly raised at least $111 million in a Series A round in 2023, according to a public filing. Bezos was involved, and Melinda Lewison, the person who manages his family office, is listed as a director on paperwork Slate has filed with states and the federal government. The filing shows 16 people invested in that round; It is unclear how much Bezos put into the company.
Slate has told employees that it closed a Series B late last year, according to multiple sources familiar with its funding. It has not yet filed any paperwork for the round with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Delaware paperwork shows it authorized nearly 500 million preferred shares for the Series B priced at $2.37 per share. (Slate also authorized more than 400 million shares of common stock in the past year, though the filings did not state a price.)
The Delaware paperwork also lists Walter and Tull as new board members, suggesting the two invested in Slate's Series B round. The two recently formed a $40 billion holding company to make investments. Walter and Tull could not be reached for comment.
Slate hopes to get its vehicle into production as soon as late 2026 at a manufacturing facility somewhere near Indianapolis, Indiana, according to job listings, state lobbying records, and a 2024 interview with executive chairman Rodney Copes. It is not immediately clear if Slate purchased an existing factory or plans to build one from scratch.
The clandestine project is taking shape at a challenging time for electric vehicles.
Once-explosive growth of the sector has cooled off, and multiple startups dedicated to building EVs have filed for bankruptcy. Those that have survived, like Rivian and Lucid Motors, have done so by burning through billions of dollars.
Slate plans to supplement the small margins of its low-cost truck by building out a line of accessories and apparel that owners can use to customize their vehicles and their looks, according to the sources and various job listings. It has filled its executive ranks with former Harley-Davidson and Stellantis employees – two companies that have historically leaned on these kinds of ancillary businesses (the former with apparel and the latter with MoPar parts and accessories).
Slate is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and the startup has also shown off a proof of concept vehicle to investors at a non-descript design studio it's leasing in Long Beach, California, according to the sources. It has targeted high net-worth individuals and kept a tight lid on its fundraising process.
The company and multiple people connected to Slate, Re:Build Manufacturing, and Bezos' family office did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story. TechCrunch also reached out to Bezos directly and did not receive a response.
Slate is shot through with Amazon DNA.
Alongside Bezos' family office, Slate's Series A included funding from former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini, according to his firm's website.
Slate was initially created as a project called Re:Car in early 2022 within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing incubator of sorts co-founded by former Amazon Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke and his MIT Leaders for Global Operations classmate Miles Arnone. Several long-time Amazon executives, including Wei Gao, who was a top VP and technical adviser to Bezos, are now at Re:Build Manufacturing.
Slate's digital, e-commerce, and automotive experience leads are Amazon expats. Even Slate's original name includes the 're:' prefix Amazon uses for events, like the re:MARS robotics and AI conference, or the annual re:Invent gathering for AWS.
Bezos has invested in more than 30 companies through his family 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 vehicles outside of the relationship his company Amazon has with Rivian.
His investment has largely been just that, though. People familiar with the company's inner workings told TechCrunch that he has not been seen around Slate's Michigan or Los Angeles offices.
Nearly all of the EV startups that have come (and gone) over the last decade have tried in some way to replicate the approach Tesla took. They've designed their first vehicles to be high-end offerings so they can sell fewer cars for more money. Eventually, after growing brand awareness, these companies move into higher volume, cheaper EVs that generate smaller margins.
Slate is inverting this by going after what it hopes will be a buyer's 'first car,' according to the people who spoke with TechCrunch.
The idea is to sell the truck at a price point of around $25,000, and have owners personalize or upgrade the car over time as they can afford it.
In late March, Slate filed for a trademark on the phrase: 'WE BUILT IT. YOU MAKE IT.' There is a long list of goods and services it could cover, including everything from switches and speakers to USB ports and pet harnesses.
Other details can be gleaned from the many job listings Slate has posted over the last two years.
One posted in 2024 hinted the company will dub the customer customization process 'Slate University.' The listing was originally titled 'University Lead' and was renamed to 'Head of Customer Education Repair & Maintenance' before the startup stopped accepting applications.
'We seek an enthusiastic, experienced Leader of Slate University to build and lead our game-changing approach to open-source content for customers to enhance their ownership experience,' the listing reads. 'As the Lead, you will drive the strategy and ecosystem development for the educational content and delivery for Slate shoppers, customers, technicians, and partners.'
Another job listing for 'Lead Product Manager, Accessories' explains that Slate is 'exploring opportunities in the electric mobility space and are building complimentary accessories, apparel, and merchandise capability.' It also mentions the person would be overseeing the development of 'utility parts' and 'lifestyle and personalization accessories.'
This approach — subsidizing a low-margin manufacturing business with a higher-margin accessories play — is one that has been used by automakers, including Harley-Davidson with its apparel division and Jeep-maker Stellantis with its Mopar parts and service division.
Unsurprisingly, Slate is already pulling experience from both of those companies as it builds out its team.
The startup's executive chairman is Rodney Copes, who spent 20 years at Harley-Davidson. Chief financial officer Ryan Green spent nearly a decade on the finance side of the motorcycle manufacturer. (Copes and Green also had stints 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 voltage battery pack, electric motors, and other related tech from outside suppliers, according to one job listing. The startup is 'challenging the status quo of vehicle design,' according to another listing for a design/release engineer for windshield wipers. A posting for an accountant role says the person hired would have to help implement the 'required systems to be a public company.'
According to another role, any prospective head of PR and communications: 'Must love cars! You'll be thinking about cars all day every day, and it's the most fun when you love cars.'
Another way Slate appears to be bucking the trend of other EV startups is that it does not have a founder serving as CEO.
Arnone is considered to be Slate's founder, according to the sources who spoke to TechCrunch, but his day-to-day job is serving as CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing.
Instead, Slate's CEO is Christine Barman, a long time Chrysler veteran. She initially got into the automotive industry through an internship at General Motors after attending Purdue University, according to a 2023 interview.
She then spent more than 20 years at Chrysler overseeing the vehicle line program for the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Jeep Cherokee, according to her LinkedIn profile. Barman eventually became the vice president of electrical and electronics for Fiat Chrysler, where she led the automaker's integration of Android Automotive and spent time working on the company's collaboration with Waymo, before leaving the company in 2017.
Barman has not spent the last decade posting online like many of her EV startup CEO peers. She instead has mostly been advising companies on emerging tech and teaching engineering before getting involved in 2022 with what at the time was a nascent EV project within Re:Build Manufacturing.
Barman did not respond to a request for comment.
Kirsten Korosec contributed to this report.
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