Redwood Materials takes on $200M debt for battery recycling

Redwood Materials, the U.S. battery recycling unicorn whose partners include Ford Motor Company, is raising $200 million via a debt offering.

Why it matters: Between its partnership with Ford and its founder — former Tesla battery chief JB Straubel — Redwood is one of the highest-profile and most closely watched battery materials suppliers in the U.S.

• It announced plans last month to invest $3.5 billion for a sprawling factory in South Carolina.

State of play: Redwood recycles and processes expensive anode and cathode materials for electric vehicles.

• Those materials are now made almost exclusively in China.

What's happening: Redwood informed the SEC in two filings on Dec. 29 that it's raising $153.9 million and $45.3 million in a debt offering (including convertible promissory notes).

• The offering brings Redwood's total fundraising past $1 billion, per PitchBook data.

Of note: Redwood had a $3.7 billion post-money valuation as of last summer.

• The company, based in Carson City, Nevada.

Meanwhile: Ford isn't Redwood's only automotive partner.

• Redwood in November announced a program with Volkswagen Group of America to collect old household electronics like laptops and cell phones to be recycled into batteries.