Redwood Materials, the US start-up recycling materials for batteries electric cars, the 2017 of Tesla-Co-founder J.B. (Jeffrey Brian) Straubel (47) was brought into being is apparently facing an important financial milestone: How the “Financial Times
” reported, Redwood Materials is about to close a $700 million round of financing that would take the company’s valuation to nearly $5 billion, according to the FT. It would also give Redwood an opportunity to build a plant in Nevada finance.
A few months ago, Redwood had already received approval from the US Department of Energy for a loan of over two billion dollars for the planned plant in Reno, Nevada. Battery components are to be reprocessed in the factory so that they can be used in batteries for electric cars. At full capacity, the factory will support the production of more than a million electric cars per year, according to the FT. It fits into the plans of the US President’s government Joe Biden (80) to increasingly convert the US economy to a sustainable energy supply.
Biden had pushed through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for this purpose, among other things. Hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies are flowing into the US economy through the regulatory package, in large part with a focus on new, clean energies.
Apparently, the new cash injection is not yet finally in the towel. The donors are not yet public. According to “FT”, however, there are some investment houses that have previously entered the startup had invested. It is known that Redwood Materials sometimes has well-known financiers such as T Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford and Fidelity. Other sponsors of the start-up include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Goldman Sachs as well as the Climate Pledge Fund of Amazon. Most recently, the company also received $700 million from its financiers in 2021, resulting in a valuation of $3.7 billion at the time.
Redwood has already announced plans for another new factory in Charleston, South Carolina. The company wants to invest another 3.5 billion dollars for this, the “FT” continues.
Based in Carson City, Nevada, Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by J.B. stumble Straubel joined Tesla in 2004 as the fifth employee and is listed as a co-founder of the US electric car manufacturer. He served Tesla as Chief Technology Officer for around 15 years before moving to a consulting role in 2019. Straubel has been on Tesla’s board of directors since 2023.