Slate Auto that came out of Stealth mode earlier this year with surprising -and surprisingly accessible – Customizable electric truckSo far, $ 700 million has been raised.
But long before EV’s boot broke a lid, it quietly raised a series A round of over $ 100 million in 2023. And while Jeff Bezos was involved in that round, as Techcrunch originally reportedHe was not alone. Regular registration presented to the values and exchange commission shows up to 16 investors.
Slauson & Co., a company of Los -English, which launched five years ago, is one of the few investors in Slate’s Series to talk publicly about why they supported the company.
Ajay Relan, a partner of Slauson & Co., told Techcrunch in an exclusive interview that his company is well aware of the many EV start bankruptcy that took place in recent years, as well as the heads coming from the Trump administration for anything related to green energy.
Regardless, Relan said he and his partner Austin Clements believe in the mission of the startup to provide “more affordable, reliable and customizable vehicles that are dominated at home.”
Rela and Clements started Slaus & Co. In 2020. Friends since high school, they both grew up from Slauson Avenue in southern Central Los -English, which has been categorized as “not necessarily known for their innovative capital.”
“But it is certainly a source of cultural capital that recovers and distributes to more developed areas and other parts of the world,” Rlan said. The mission of Slauson & Co. It is pontting the gap between these two worlds by funding and authorizing people who “historically simply did not have their perspective represented in the innovative economy.”
Relan said they were switched on by Jeff Wilkie’s Slate, the former general manager of Amazon Consumer Division, who co -founded Re: Build Manufacturing, a incubator from which Slate poured out. Wilkie, who Relan knew since then before founding Slaus & Co, first introduced them to the secret project in 2023.
Relan acknowledges investing in EV startup is a bit outside the “primary issues of his company.” But the duo was played by Slate’s mission to make a more affordable and accessible car.
He was sold in the business after Wilkie introduced Slaus & Co. to the Slate Team.
The starting was still only a few dozen in early 2023. But these people had decades of experience in the car industry. CEO Chris Barman spent more than 20 years at Chrysler, hosting vehicle programs, leading the Android Automotive, integration, and even collaborating with Waymo. President Rodney Copes and chief financial officer Ryan Green spent years at Harley-Davidson and Rivian.
Barman particularly impressed Slaus & Co. Partners.
“She has a great vision. She has a great reputation in the company she worked on before,” Clements said. “She’s not scoundrels, not the Hype. She’s really about delivery.”
Clements said he and RELI also depend much on taste when it comes to an early stage.
“Do we think this resonates with what people are looking for this -moment?” He said. “The idea that there are no accessible cars, especially for young people, but really for everyone, and only the misunderstanding between accessibility of vehicles and what is available simply made no sense.”
Slate’s truck will not hit the market until late 2026, but Rela and Clements already have some validation that their eye for taste has been recorded with slate: the company passed 100,000 repayment reserves In just two weeks.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be standing along with any serious financial and industrial fire power. Not only Bezos invested in that initial financial circle, but Slate also judged big money from the owner of Los Angeles Dodgers Mark Walter as well as VC firm General Catalyst. (“The partners they could bring for the trip before and after we were frozen on the cake,” Reman said in an email.)
These supporters helped fill Slate’s coffers for the tune of about $ 700 million, and the company told Techcrunch that it had already begun in a C -Financial Circle series. Slauson & Co. also invested in the B series; The company refused to share how much it has invested in slate so far.
This combination-the Slate team, the main supporters, and the chance at the entry level of the car market-left and Clements believing that their investment can generate a good return, even in the notably low marginal car business.
“We must have some deep conviction that this is something that could cause very real returns in the fund,” Clements said, before adding with a laugh: “You know, we’re not just a purely philanthropic organization.”
