Massachusetts-based manufacturing accelerator Re:Build, which spun out electric vehicle startup Slate Auto in 2023, announced on Tuesday that it secured $2.1 billion in fresh funding.
General Catalyst and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group led the investment, while other participating financial backers remained unnamed. According to the company, the money will go toward expanding 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.
This financial injection arrives during a period when heightened attention and capital focus on strengthening United States manufacturing and supply chains as a hedge away from China.
Co-founder Jeff Wilke stated that they launched the firm because the deindustrialization of America represents an economic failure and a national security risk. He noted that the capital lets them move faster and further to build a major manufacturing business and a platform for American industrial leadership, adding that their ecosystem proves they can help restore the nation's industrial might.
General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja stated that rebuilding domestic industrial capacity serves as a top economic and national security imperative. He emphasized the need for platform companies operating at genuine scale and an innovation ecosystem that learns to build hardware again in order to compete with China, re-industrialize the country, and revitalize left-behind towns and jobs.
Established in 2020 and styling itself as America's answer to Shenzhen, Re:Build maintains close connections to Amazon. Wilke previously served as Amazon's commercial chief executive officer, while chief digital and product officer Wei Gao worked as a longtime Amazon vice president and technical adviser to Bezos, alongside multiple other former executives from the e-commerce giant.
The company reports launching hundreds of products and production systems during its six-year existence. Its operations involve partnering with industrial entities to design, engineer, and manufacture items at scale across sectors like aerospace and defense, alongside incubating startups in critical and underserved markets.
Re:Build states that its network employs more than 2,100 people across the United States and encompasses over 2.4 million square feet of manufacturing space.
Wilke and co-founder Miles Arnone conceived Slate Auto in 2022 and spun it out to help it attract more capital. That venture has since secured at least $1.4 billion, including backing from the family office of Bezos, aiming to construct an ultra low-cost, bare bones pickup truck customizable to customer preferences.
