Slate was incubated by Re:Build Manufacturing, another company with ties to Bezos, and has been operating under the radar since its founding in 2022. The startup has hired hundreds of employees in stealth mode, many from Ford, General Motors, Stratis and Harley-Davidson.
Slate has also attracted the backing of several other wealthy individuals, including Mark Walter, the controlling shareholder of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Thomas Tull, a major investor in Re:Build Manufacturing, according to documents obtained by TechCrunch from the Delaware Registrar of Companies.
Two anonymous people familiar with the matter revealed that Slate has ambitious goals and hopes to build an economical two-seat electric pickup truck with a price of about $25,000. The company's management has mentioned that it will draw inspiration from the Ford Model T or the Volkswagen Beetle.
Have money to burn
To achieve this goal, Slate has amassed a sizable financial reserve.
According to a public document, the company quietly completed at least US$111 million in Series A financing in 2023, with investors including Bezos. And Melinda Lewison, who manages the Bezos family office, is listed as a director in Slate's filings with state and federal governments. Documents show that a total of 16 people participated in this round of investment, but it is unclear how much money Bezos invested.
According to multiple people familiar with Slate’s financing, Slate has informed employees that the company completed its Series B financing at the end of last year. However, the company has not filed any documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding this funding round. Delaware filings show the company authorized the issuance of nearly 500 million shares of preferred stock for the Series B financing, priced at $2.37 per share. Over the past year, Slate also authorized the issuance of more than 400 million shares of common stock, but pricing was not disclosed in the filing.
In the Delaware filing, Slate also listed Walter and Tull as new board members, hinting at their involvement in Slate’s Series B round of financing. The pair recently formed a $40 billion holding company to invest. Walter and Tull have not yet commented.
Slate hopes to start producing cars as soon as late 2026 at a manufacturing plant somewhere near Indianapolis, Indiana, according to job postings, state lobbying records and a 2024 interview with Slate Executive Chairman Rodney Copes. It's unclear whether Slate purchased an existing factory or plans to build a new one from scratch.
Right now, the electric vehicle industry is facing challenges. The once fast-growing industry has cooled, and several startups focused on making electric vehicles have filed for bankruptcy. Those that survived, like Rivian and Lucid Motors, burned through billions of dollars to stay afloat.
Information disclosed by people familiar with the matter and multiple job postings show that due to the razor-thin margins of low-priced electric pickup trucks, Slate plans to expand its revenue sources by creating a series of accessories and apparel. These accessories and apparel allow owners to personalize their vehicle and appearance.
Slate has bolstered its executive ranks by recruiting former employees from Harley-Davidson and Strantis, two companies that have historically relied on add-on business to grow revenue. Harley-Davidson relies on apparel, while Strantis relies on MoPar parts and accessories.
Slate, which is based in Troy, Mich., has shown investors a proof-of-concept vehicle in a modest design studio it rents in Long Beach, Calif., people familiar with the matter said. Slate targets high-net-worth individuals and keeps its financing process highly confidential.
Deep relationship with Amazon
Slate is full of Amazon elements. In addition to the Bezos family office, Slate’s Series A round also attracted investment from former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini.
It started as a project called Re:Car, created inside Re:Build Manufacturing in early 2022. Re:BuildManufacturing is an American manufacturing incubator co-founded by former Amazon consumer products CEO Jeff Wilke and Miles Arnone, a classmate of the MIT Global Operations Leadership Course. Former Amazon vice president and Bezos technical advisor Wei Gao (transliteration) and many other senior Amazon executives are now working at Re:Build Manufacturing.
The heads of Slate’s digital, e-commerce and automotive businesses are all executives “from Amazon.” Even Slate's original name had the "re:" prefix that Amazon often uses. For example, Amazon’s re:MARS robotics and artificial intelligence conference, or AWS’s annual re:Invent conference.
Over the years, Bezos has invested in more than 30 companies through his family office, dabbling in artificial intelligence (Perplexity), robotics (Figure), defense (Anduril) and even travel (Uber). Although Amazon has already invested in electric vehicle company Rivian, Slate is one of Bezos' most direct personal investments in the electric vehicle field.
However, according to people familiar with Slate's internal operations, Bezos's involvement is basically limited to the investment level, and he has not personally appeared in Slate's Michigan or Los Angeles offices.
Anti-Tesla model
Nearly every new electric car startup that has emerged over the past decade has been trying to copy Tesla’s model to some extent. They usually design their first models to be high-end products in order to make more profits with fewer sales. After their brand awareness increases, these companies then turn to developing models that can be mass-produced at lower prices and with smaller profit margins.
But people familiar with the matter revealed that Slate is going in the opposite direction. The company has tried to build a car that everyone can afford from the beginning, making it the buyer's "first car in life."
Trademark applied for by Slate
Slate's idea is to sell its electric pickup truck for about $25,000, and then allow owners to gradually personalize or upgrade it according to their own financial situation, that is, a low-price entry plus later customization model.
At the end of March 2025, Slate applied to register a trademark: "We build cars, you customize them" (WEBUILTIT.YOUMAKEIT). This trademark covers a wide range of goods and services, including everything from switches and speakers to USB interfaces and pet safety belts.
The CEO is not the founder
Another unique aspect of Slate is that the company does not have a founder as CEO.
Arnone is considered the founder of Slate, but his day job is as CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing, people familiar with the matter said.
Instead, Slate's CEO is Christine Barman, a long-time Chrysler veteran. According to a 2023 interview, she attended Purdue University and entered the automotive industry through an internship at General Motors.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she subsequently worked at Chrysler for more than 20 years, responsible for product line projects such as the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Jeep Cherokee. Barman then became Fiat Chrysler's vice president of electrical and electronics. In this role, she led the integration of Google's car system Android Automotive and participated in the company's collaborative projects with Waymo. She left Fiat Chrysler in 2017.
As of press time, Slate, the Bezos Family Office, and Barman have not commented.