Quick context before the detail: slate auto raises $650m to fund its affordable ev truck plans sits at the intersection of a few real-world decisions most readers face at some point. Here is a clear summary of what is going on, and why it matters.
Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup Slate Auto has raised another $650 million as the company prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.
The carmaker said Monday that the Series C funding round was led by TWG Global, a firm run by Guggenheim Partners chief executive (and Los Angeles Dodgers owner) Mark Walter and investor Thomas Tull. Slate Auto’s press release thanked “visionary investors” but the company did not name any others who were involved in the fundraise.
The new round means Slate Auto has raised roughly $1.4 billion to date. Previous investors have included General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos’ family office, VC firm Slauson & Co., and former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini, as TechCrunch first reported last year.
The company is also loaded with Amazon DNA. Beyond its investors, it was co-founded by Amazon’s former Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke. The heads of Slate’s mobility, user experience/user interface, e-commerce, fleet sales, and HR teams all used to work at Amazon. And, the company recently installed former Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy as CEO. (Former CEO and Chrysler veteran Chris Barman moved to a new role as “President of Vehicles.”)
Slate Auto’s Series C comes at a turbulent moment for the electric vehicle market in the United States. Major automakers are pulling back plans to launch electric vehicles here, especially after the loss of the $7,500 federal tax credit last year. Tesla’s overall sales have declined two years in a row. Newcomers like Rivian and Lucid Motors have struggled to reach scale, though both of those companies are launching new, more affordable models this year.
Founded in 2022, Slate Auto is taking a different approach than pretty much any other automaker. The company is targeting the extreme low-end of the market with a bare-bones electric truck that is expected to start in the mid-$20,000s. Customers will be able to customize the truck in various ways for more money, including adding an SUV conversion kit for around $5,000.
The company originally planned to price the truck around $27,000, and shortly after it emerged from stealth in 2025 was promoting a starting price of “under $20,000” with the federal tax credit applied. Final pricing is now coming in June, as reported by the company.
Slate Auto has drawn a fair amount of interest even with the loss of the federal tax credit. The company has racked up more than 160,000 refundable reservations for its EV. The company recently said that it tapped Faricy as its new CEO in part to get working on converting these reservations into paid orders. Slate’s also spending a few hundred million dollars renovating a former printing factory in Indiana where it plans to build the EVs.
