Slate Auto Raises $650 Million Series C as Transportation and Biotech Lead U.S. Venture Funding

Slate Auto closed a $650 million Series C round led by TWG Global, pushing transportation to the top of this week’s U.S. venture funding. The round values the Troy, Michigan‑based electric pickup truck maker at a post‑money valuation of roughly $4.2 billion. Slate Auto said it plans to deliver its first vehicles to customers later this year.

Beeline Medicines emerged from stealth with a $300 million Series A led by Bain Capital. The Boston‑based biotech will use the capital to advance five precision‑therapy programs licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb into preclinical and early clinical stages. This marks one of the largest early‑stage biotech financings of 2025.

Transportation and biotech were the leading themes among the week’s ten largest U.S. deals, which also included Glydways’ $170 million Series C for autonomous pods, Factory’s $150 million Series C for AI‑driven software engineering, and Terremoto Biosciences’ $108 million Series C for cancer therapeutics. Smaller rounds went to Zum, Neomorph, Slash, nEye and Turion Space, each at or above $100 million.

To gauge the scale, Tesla (TSLA) held a market cap of about $800 billion and was up roughly 10 % year‑to‑date, while Ford (F) stood near $55 billion and was down about 3 % over the same period. The biotech benchmark NASDAQ Biotechnology Index rose approximately 8 % YTD, reflecting investor confidence in early‑stage pipelines like Beeline’s.

The fresh capital will enable Slate Auto to scale tooling, begin limited production, and prepare for customer deliveries later in 2025. Beeline Medicines aims to file its first IND with the FDA by mid‑2026, assuming preclinical milestones are met.

Watch for Slate Auto’s pilot fleet rollout and Beeline Medicines’ preclinical data releases as the next indicators of whether these mega‑rounds translate into tangible products.