Re:Build, which spun out Slate Auto, raises $2.1B
Re:Build, the Massachusetts-based manufacturing accelerator that spun out EV startup Slate Auto in 2023, has raised $2.1 billion. The company said Tuesday that it will use the funding to “expand Re:Build’s capacity to manufacture hard tech products and launch new industrial startups,” which will “ensure the most innovative products can be made in America for generations to come.”
总部位于马萨诸塞州的制造加速器 Re:Build 在 2023 年分拆了电动汽车初创公司 Slate Auto，目前已筹集 21 亿美元。该公司周二表示，将利用这笔资金“扩大 Re:Build 制造硬科技产品的能力并启动新的工业初创公司”，这将“确保最具创新性的产品能够在未来几代人中在美国制造”。
The investment was led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group. Other investors weren’t disclosed. The funding round comes as increasing attention and capital is flowing to the idea of building up manufacturing and supply chains in the United States, especially as a hedge away from China.
此次投资由 General Catalyst 和摩根大通的战略投资集团领投。其他投资者未披露。此轮融资正值人们对在美国建立制造和供应链的理念给予越来越多的关注和资金投入，尤其是作为一种规避中国的对冲手段。
“We started Re:Build because the deindustrialization of America is an economic failure and national security risk,” Re:Build co-founder Jeff Wilke said in a statement. “This capital allows Re:Build to go faster and further than would otherwise be possible, and build a great manufacturing business and a platform for American industrial leadership. The products and companies emerging from our ecosystem prove we can help restore America’s industrial might.”
Re:Build 联合创始人杰夫·威尔克（Jeff Wilke）在一份声明中表示：“我们创办 Re:Build 是因为美国的去工业化是一场经济失败，也是国家安全风险。这笔资金使 Re:Build 能够比以往更快、更远地发展，并建立一家伟大的制造企业和美国工业领导地位的平台。从我们生态系统中涌现的产品和公司证明，我们可以帮助恢复美国的工业实力。”
General Catalyst’s CEO Hemant Taneja echoed those sentiments in a statement, saying, “General Catalyst has long believed that rebuilding American industrial capacity is one of the most important economic and national security imperatives of our time.” Taneja added: “To compete with China, re-industrialize the U.S., and revitalize the towns and jobs that have been left behind, we need platform companies that can operate at genuine scale — and we need our innovation ecosystem to learn how to build hardware again.”
General Catalyst 首席执行官赫曼特·塔内贾（Hemant Taneja）在一份声明中呼应了这些观点，称：“General Catalyst 长期以来一直认为，重建美国工业能力是我们这个时代最重要的经济和国家安全要务之一。”塔内贾补充道：“为了与中国竞争、实现美国再工业化并振兴那些被遗忘的城镇和就业岗位，我们需要能够真正实现规模化运营的平台型公司，并且我们需要我们的创新生态系统重新学习如何制造硬件。”
Founded in 2020, Re:Build bills itself as “America’s answer to Shenzhen,” and it has numerous ties to Amazon. It was co-founded by Wilke, who was Amazon’s former commercial CEO. Wei Gao, a longtime Amazon VP and technical adviser to Bezos, is Re:Build’s chief digital and product officer. Multiple other Re:Build executives also worked for the e-commerce giant.
Re:Build 成立于 2020 年，自称为“美国的深圳”，并与亚马逊有着千丝万缕的联系。它由曾任亚马逊商业首席执行官的威尔克共同创立。长期担任亚马逊副总裁兼贝索斯技术顾问的魏高（Wei Gao）是 Re:Build 的首席数字和产品官。其他多位 Re:Build 高管也曾在该电商巨头工作过。
Re:Build claims to have “launched hundreds of products and production systems” over its six-year existence. The company tends to operate two ways: It enters partnerships with industrial companies to “design, engineer, and manufacture products at scale across verticals including aerospace and defense,” and it incubates startups in “critical, underserved markets.” Re:Build says its network of companies employs more than 2,100 people in the U.S. and houses more than 2.4 million square feet of manufacturing capacity.
Re:Build 声称在其成立的六年里“推出了数百种产品和生产系统”。该公司倾向于以两种方式运营：它与工业公司建立合作伙伴关系，以“在航空航天和国防等垂直领域设计、工程化和大规模制造产品”，并孵化“关键且服务不足的市场”中的初创公司。Re:Build 表示，其公司网络在美国雇佣了超过 2,100 名员工，并拥有超过 240 万平方英尺的制造能力。
Wilke and his co-founder Miles Arnone came up with the idea of Slate Auto in 2022 and decided to spin it out in order to help it attract more capital. The company has since gone on to raise at least $1.4 billion, including funding from Bezos’ family office, in an attempt to build an ultra-low-cost, bare-bones pickup that can be customized to a customer’s liking.
威尔克和他的联合创始人迈尔斯·阿诺恩（Miles Arnone）在 2022 年提出了 Slate Auto 的想法，并决定将其分拆，以帮助其吸引更多资本。此后，该公司已筹集了至少 14 亿美元，其中包括来自贝索斯家族办公室的资金，旨在打造一款超低成本、基础型的皮卡，并可根据客户的喜好进行定制。