Redwood Materials, the US battery recycling start-up Tesla-Co-founder J.B. Straubel (47), reached another milestone with its funding. In its most recent round, Redwood raised more than $1 billion, the company said on Tuesday. This brings total equity raised by Redwood to nearly $2 billion.
The Series D funding round, which is now complete, was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and clients and funds advised by T Rowe Price Associates. A number of new investors also took part, including the Canadian pension fund OMERS, Microsofts Climate Innovation Fund and Deepwater Asset Management.
The company plans to invest the funds in the domestic battery supply chain. “We will leverage our Series D funding to further expand our capabilities, expand the domestic battery supply chain and enable our customers to enter the… USA to buy manufactured battery materials”, shared Redwood
. The materials include lithium, nickel and cobalt, which are important raw materials for electric car batteries. The focus, according to Redwood, is on expanding the collection of used batteries, increasing refining capacity to recover larger volumes, and harnessing the value to produce the most sustainable products.
Valuation of 5 billion dollars
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the start-up founded in 2017 is worth 5 billion dollars. A few months ago, Redwood received approval for a $2 billion loan from the US Department of Energy for its Nevada facility.
The factory fits into the plans of the US President’s administration Joe Biden (80) to increasingly convert the US economy to a sustainable energy supply. Among other things, he had pushed through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was worth billions. In Nevada, Redwood plans to produce anode copper foil in the future.
Straubel is also planning to build a plant in Charleston, South Carolina. Not only will batteries and materials be recycled, but cathode and anode copper foils will also be reprocessed.
Straubel joined Tesla in 2004 as the fifth employee and is listed as a co-founder of the US electric car manufacturer. After 15 years as Tesla’s Chief Technology Officer, he moved to a consulting role in 2019. In 2023, Straubel joined Tesla’s board of directors.
Redwood recently won over a top Tesla manager. Colin Campbell was most recently Tesla’s chief engineer, this month taking over as chief technology officer at Redwood Materials.