Redwood Materials Finds New CFO as It Grows Its Battery Recycling and Energy Storage Business

Redwood Materials, a company known for its battery recycling and energy storage solutions, has made some significant moves in its executive team. On Monday, the company announced that Deepak Ahuja, formerly Tesla's CFO, would be joining as the new CFO. This news comes after a year and a half since the last CFO left the company.

Ahuja is no stranger to the Tesla ecosystem; he’s part of an executive team that includes Tesla’s former CTO JB Straubel (Redwood’s founder and CEO) and Colin Campbell, who was formerly Tesla's powertrain vice president. Ahuja has also worked at Zipline as its chief finance and business officer.

Despite the excitement around IPOs in tech, particularly with companies related to AI data centers, Ahuja is cautious about discussing an IPO for Redwood Materials just yet. 'Naturally, an IPO is a potential outcome for any private company, but we’ll talk about it when the time is right,' he said.

One of the reasons for this caution, according to Ahuja, is that Redwood has been able to secure significant funding from blue-chip investors. In January, the company closed a $425 million Series E funding round, bringing its total capital raised to over $2 billion and valuing it at more than $6 billion.

‘Redwood has, I’d say, the crème de la crème of investors already, who do have deep pockets,’ Ahuja explained. ‘If they’re excited, they’ll fund. But I also expect that new investors will see what Redwood is doing and get equally excited, wanting to come in and invest with good terms.’

The appointment comes at a crucial time for Redwood Materials. The company recently lost its chief operating officer (another former Tesla exec) to retirement, along with several other vice presidents due to restructuring that affected 10% of the workforce. However, Ahuja is optimistic about the future and excited by the innovative technology solutions that impact climate change and energy needs.

Ahuja has a personal stake in Redwood’s success as he's also a small investor himself. 'In many ways, it felt like a natural fit,' he said, pointing to the company’s energy storage business and recycling efforts which are critical for our society and country.

While there is plenty of hype around AI with SpaceX going public and OpenAI and Anthropic considering IPOs, Ahuja believes Redwood's hardware-focused approach brings a level of stability. 'We're dealing with hardware here, which by definition, brings a certain degree of sanity compared to what’s happening at the software-focused AI companies,' he added.