Redwood Materials, a battery recycler and cathode manufacturer, has reportedly cut approximately five percent of its workforce. This news comes shortly after the company raised an additional 350 million dollars. According to reports, the layoffs affect a few dozen workers from its base of around 1,200 employees in Nevada.
The company was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, a former Chief Technology Officer of Tesla. Its original focus was on recycling scrap materials from battery cell production, consumer electronics, and used electric vehicle batteries. From these discarded goods, Redwood extracts valuable materials such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which it then sells back to customers like Panasonic. The company has since expanded its operations to include cathode production.
More recently, Redwood launched a new business unit that repurposes old electric vehicle batteries for use in energy storage products. This sector has experienced significant growth, partly driven by the power demands of new artificial intelligence data centers. As of June, the company had accumulated a stockpile of more than one gigawatt-hour’s worth of batteries dedicated to this energy storage initiative.
The 350 million dollar Series E funding round, announced in October, increased the company’s valuation to approximately six billion dollars. A company spokesperson has declined to comment on the reported layoffs.