Deepak Ahuja Hired as Redwood Materials CFO
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- Deepak Ahuja joins Redwood Materials as chief financial officer, reuniting with former Tesla co‑founder JB Straubel.
- Redwood Materials recently laid off about 135 employees (≈10% of its workforce) and lost its COO Chris Lister amid a restructuring focused on its fast‑growing energy storage division, Redwood Energy.
- Redwood Materials is valued at over $6 billion after a $350 million raise in Oct 2025 and a $425 million Series E in Jan 2026 with investors including Google and Nvidia, and reported $200 million run‑rate revenue in 2024.
- Redwood Materials now supplies roughly 70% of the U.S. battery‑recycling market and has expanded into producing cathode and anode materials for major automakers such as Toyota, GM, and Rivian.
- Redwood Energy has deployed a 12 MW/63 MWh grid‑scale storage system in Sparks, Nevada for AI infrastructure firm Crusoe and signed second‑life battery deals with Rivian and GM, aiming to scale its stockpiled batteries from >1 GWh to 20 GWh by 2028.
- Deepak Ahuja previously helped Tesla navigate a near‑death cash crisis in 2008, served as CFO during its IPO and multiple capital raises, and held senior finance roles at Ford, Verily (Alphabet), and Zipline.
Why it matters: Redwood gains a CFO with proven Tesla capital‑raising expertise just as it expands its energy‑storage unit, positioning the firm to attract further funding or consider a public offering while capitalizing on its dominant U.S. recycling market share in the next few years.
