Re:Build has raised $2.1 billion in new funding, the company announced Tuesday. The industrial manufacturing firm said it will use the capital to expand its capacity to produce hard tech products and to launch new industrial startups. Re:Build was co-founded by Jeff Wilke, the former commercial CEO of Amazon.
The round was led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group. Re:Build did not disclose the other investors. The company said the investment is intended to keep innovative products made in America for generations to come.
The funding arrives as more attention and capital flow toward building up manufacturing and supply chains in the United States, particularly as a hedge away from China. Wilke said in a statement that the deindustrialization of America is both an economic failure and a national security risk, and that the capital lets Re:Build go faster and further than would otherwise be possible. He added that the company's products and emerging companies demonstrate that it can help restore America's industrial strength.
General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja made similar points in a statement, saying his firm has long held that rebuilding American industrial capacity is among the most important economic and national security imperatives of the time. Taneja said competing with China, re-industrializing the U.S., and revitalizing left-behind towns and jobs will require platform companies that can operate at genuine scale. He also said the innovation ecosystem needs to relearn how to build hardware.
Founded in 2020, Re:Build describes itself as America's answer to Shenzhen and has multiple ties to Amazon. Wei Gao, a longtime Amazon vice president and technical adviser to Jeff Bezos, serves as Re:Build's chief digital and product officer. Several other Re:Build executives also previously worked at the e-commerce giant. The company says it has launched hundreds of products and production systems over its six-year history.
Re:Build typically operates in two ways: partnering with industrial companies to design, engineer, and manufacture products at scale across verticals including aerospace and defense, and incubating startups in critical, underserved markets. The company says its network of companies employs more than 2,100 people in the U.S. and holds more than 2.4 million square feet of manufacturing capacity. Wilke and co-founder Miles Arnone conceived Slate Auto in 2022 and spun it out so it could attract more capital. Slate Auto has since raised at least $1.4 billion, including funding from the Bezos family office, to build an ultra-low-cost, bare-bones pickup that can be customized to a customer's liking.
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