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Redwood Materials takes on $200M debt for battery recycling

Alan Neuhauser
Jan 3, 2023
Illustration of a battery with a dollar bill wrapped around it.

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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).

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.

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