总部位于马萨诸塞州的制造业加速器Re:Build于2023年孵化出电动汽车初创公司Slate Auto，已筹集21亿美元。该公司周二表示，将使用这笔资金“扩大Re:Build制造硬科技产品的能力，并推出新的工业初创公司”，以“确保最具创新性的产品能够在美国生产，造福子孙后代”。此次投资由General Catalyst和摩根大通战略投资集团牵头。其他投资者未予披露。
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.”The investment was led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group. Other investors weren’t disclosed.
此轮融资发生之际，越来越多的关注和资本正流向在美国建立制造业和供应链的理念，尤其是作为远离中国的对冲手段。
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.
“我们创立Re:Build，是因为美国的去工业化既是经济失败，也是国家安全风险，”Re:Build联合创始人杰夫·威尔克在一份声明中表示。“这笔资金将使Re:Build能够比原本可能的速度更快、走得更远，打造一家优秀的制造企业，并成为美国工业领导力的平台。我们生态系统中涌现的产品和公司证明，我们能够帮助恢复美国的工业实力。”
“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.”
General Catalyst首席执行官赫曼特·塔尼贾在一份声明中表示赞同，他说：“General Catalyst长期以来一直认为，重建美国工业产能是我们这个时代最重要的经济和国家安全任务之一。”
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.”
塔尼贾补充道：“要与中国竞争，重新工业化美国，振兴被抛弃的城镇和就业，我们需要能够真正大规模运营的平台公司，也需要我们的创新生态系统重新学习如何制造硬件。”Re:Build成立于2020年，自称是“美国对深圳的回答”，并与亚马逊有着众多联系。该公司由威尔克联合创立，他曾是亚马逊的前商业首席执行官。长期担任亚马逊副总裁并担任贝佐斯技术顾问的魏高，是Re:Build的首席数字和产品官。Re:Build的多位其他高管也曾在该电商巨头工作。
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.”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声称，在其六年的存在期间，“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，在航空航天和国防等垂直领域“设计、工程化并大规模制造产品”。它还在“关键且服务不足的市场”中孵化初创公司。Re:Build表示，其公司网络在美国雇佣了超过2100人，拥有超过240万平方英尺的制造产能。
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.”It also 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.
Wilke 和他的联合创始人 Miles Arnone 于 2022 年构思了 Slate Auto 的创意，并决定将其拆分出来，以帮助其吸引更多资本。该公司此后已筹集至少 14 亿美元，其中包括来自 Bezos 家族办公室的资金，试图打造一款超低成本、精简配置的皮卡，可根据客户喜好进行定制。
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 truck that can be customized to a customer’s liking.