Redwood Supplies has laid off round 135 staff, or roughly 10% of its workforce, because it restructures to higher accommodate its rising vitality storage enterprise, TechCrunch has realized.
The cuts come simply 5 months after Redwood lower 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 beforehand reported.
It’s been a tough time within the battery business currently. Earlier this month, battery recycler Ascend Components filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety, citing “insurmountable” monetary challenges. Some battery makers have additionally restructured or gone out of enterprise because the automotive business 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 informed staff that this new spherical of cuts shouldn’t be an indication that the corporate is heading down the identical path.
“Redwood right now is the strongest it’s ever been,” Straubel wrote in an e mail to the employees who weren’t laid off, in line with a replica seen by TechCrunch. “The supplies enterprise is nicely on its solution to profitability and has an thrilling roadmap forward.”
Straubel famous that Redwood “proceed[s] to dominate the US battery recycling market” but additionally touted the corporate’s “nice momentum” in its new vitality storage enterprise. Redwood has not too long ago introduced offers with Crusoe AI and, most not too long ago, electrical automaker Rivian to offer recycled batteries that can be utilized to energy these corporations’ services. The corporate declined to remark past the contents of Straubel’s e mail.
In his message, Straubel wrote that “components of the corporate have expanded sooner than wanted to assist the path” of Redwood. Consequently, he mentioned Redwood is making cuts throughout a number of divisions, together with the engineering and operations organizations, in line with an worker who was granted anonymity to debate the layoffs.
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“We’re assured that we are able to ship on our vital initiatives with a smaller crew that’s extra targeted,” he wrote. “We have now efficiently tailored to adjustments available in the market 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 vital supplies and vitality storage enterprise on the planet.”
“This can be a self-sustaining enterprise and can proceed to make this firm extra beneficial over time. We have now the crew and the expertise to do what no different firm can,” he wrote.
Staff who have been laid off have been informed by Redwood’s chief HR officer that the layoffs have been made “to sharpen our focus, our work and the dimensions of our groups to assist the path Redwood goes sooner or later,” in line with 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, in line with 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 now — they’ve all contributed to constructing Redwood,” he wrote.
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