Redwood Supplies has laid off round 135 staff, or roughly 10% of its workforce, because it restructures to higher accommodate its rising power storage enterprise, TechCrunch has discovered.
The cuts come simply 5 months after Redwood cut 5% of its workforce, and three months after it closed a $425 million funding spherical that boosted the battery-recycling firm’s valuation to north of $6 billion, as TechCrunch previously reported.
It’s been a troublesome time within the battery trade these days. Earlier this month, battery recycler Ascend Components filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing “insurmountable” monetary challenges. Some battery makers have additionally restructured or gone out of enterprise because the automotive trade within the U.S. has backed away from its most optimistic and impressive plans to transition to electrical autos.
However Redwood Supplies founder and CEO JB Straubel instructed staff that this new spherical of cuts is just not an indication that the corporate is heading down the identical path.
“Redwood right this moment is the strongest it’s ever been,” Straubel wrote in an e-mail to the employees who weren’t laid off, based on a replica seen by TechCrunch. “The supplies enterprise is effectively on its strategy to profitability and has an thrilling roadmap forward.”
Straubel famous that Redwood “proceed[s] to dominate the US battery recycling market” but in addition touted the corporate’s “nice momentum” in its new energy storage business. Redwood has just lately introduced offers with Crusoe AI and, most just lately, electrical automaker Rivian to offer recycled batteries that can be utilized to energy these firms’ amenities. The corporate declined to remark past the contents of Straubel’s e-mail.
In his message, Straubel wrote that “elements of the corporate have expanded quicker than wanted to assist the route” of Redwood. Because of this, he stated Redwood is making cuts throughout a number of divisions, together with the engineering and operations organizations, based on an worker who was granted anonymity to debate the layoffs.
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“We’re assured that we will ship on our essential tasks with a smaller crew that’s extra centered,” he wrote. “We now have efficiently tailored to adjustments out there which have bankrupted a lot of our opponents.”
Straubel went on to jot down that he’s “extra excited than ever with our path forward as we construct essentially the most built-in and cost-effective essential supplies and power storage enterprise on the planet.”
“It is a self-sustaining enterprise and can proceed to make this firm extra precious over time. We now have the crew and the know-how to do what no different firm can,” he wrote.
Staff who have been laid off have been instructed by Redwood’s chief HR officer that the layoffs have been made “to sharpen our focus, our work and the scale of our groups to assist the route Redwood goes sooner or later,” based on a replica of her e-mail, which was seen by TechCrunch.
Staff who have been laid off are receiving severance and paid well being advantages, based on Straubel’s e-mail, in addition to “profession transition help.”
“I’m grateful to the roughly 135 staff who we are saying goodbye to right this moment — they’ve all contributed to constructing Redwood,” he wrote.
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