Jeff Bezos rep leaves Slate Auto’s board

A notable change has occurred at the electric vehicle startup Slate Auto, as Melinda Lewison, head of Jeff Bezos' family office, has resigned from the board of directors. This development comes to light through various state filings reviewed by TechCrunch, indicating that her departure happened over the past few months. With Lewison's exit, Bezos now lacks direct representation on Slate's board, an important detail as the company gears up to launch its affordable electric truck later this year. Despite multiple outreach attempts, Slate has yet to provide a comment regarding this board change, and both Lewison and Bezos have not responded to inquiries. This shift raises questions about Bezos’ ongoing support and role within Slate, particularly as he appears to be pivoting his focus toward robotics with his new venture, Project Prometheus. This initiative has already raised over $6 billion and is reportedly aiming for a staggering $100 billion fund to acquire industrial companies for AI-driven automation. The specifics of Bezos' involvement with Slate Auto have always been somewhat unclear. The company has not disclosed the amount he invested during its initial funding round in 2023, which totaled approximately $120 million. Furthermore, it remains unconfirmed whether Bezos participated in the Series B funding round, which increased total investments to around $700 million. Recently, Slate Auto announced a successful $650 million Series C funding round but only disclosed one lead investor: TWG Global, headed by Mark Walter of Guggenheim Partners. Existing investor Slauson & Co also confirmed their participation in this latest round. In previous statements, Chris Barman, Slate's first hire and former CEO, described Bezos as “pretty hands-off,” indicating that while he was invited to engage, he has largely allowed the team to focus on bringing their vehicle to market. Despite Bezos' minimal direct involvement, Slate Auto is notably staffed by many former Amazon employees, including co-founder Jeff Wilke, a former Amazon Consumer CEO, and its new CEO, Peter Faricy, who was previously a VP at Amazon Marketplace.