Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup Slate Auto has raised another $650 million as the enterprise prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.

The carmaker stated 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 organization did not name any others who were involved in the fundraise.

The fresh 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 firm 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 organization recently installed former Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy as CEO. (Former CEO and Chrysler veteran Chris Barman moved to a fresh role as “President of Vehicles.”) This also touches on aspects of software update.

Slate Auto’s Series C comes at a turbulent moment for the electric vehicle economy in the United States. Major automakers are pulling back plans to launch electric vehicles here, especially after the shortfall 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 novel, more affordable models this year.

Founded in 2022, Slate Auto is taking a different approach than pretty much any other automaker. The organization is targeting the extreme low-end of the economy 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 wealth, including adding an SUV conversion kit for around $5,000.

The corporation 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, according to the corporation.

Slate Auto has drawn a fair amount of interest even with the depletion of the federal tax credit. The business has racked up more than 160,000 refundable reservations for its EV. The firm recently remarked that it tapped Faricy as its recent 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. Furthermore, experts in mobile apps note the continued relevance.

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