Redwood Materials

Nevada-based Redwood Materials is thinking a few steps ahead. The four-year-old startup, founded by Tesla cofounder and former CTO JB Straubel, understands that with the onslaught of electric vehicles hitting the road in coming years, there is going to be a growing waste and supply-chain problem involving the batteries that power them. That’s why Redwood focuses on recycling lithium-ion batteries for products such as EVs and consumer electronics, partnering with over a dozen companies including Amazon and, most recently, Ford, whose EV aspirations could be a boon for Redwood’s business.

But the firm isn’t stopping there. Redwood also supplies those recycled raw materials, like copper and lithium, back to its partners that make the batteries (like Panasonic), creating what the company calls a “circular supply chain” that’s aimed at reducing the environmental footprint and cost of batteries. Next year, Redwood Materials is going to start domesticating another part of the currently far-flung supply chain, with plans to manufacture battery materials, including anode copper foil and cathode active materials, at home in the U.S. To do all this, the firm has raised over $820 million to date from investors, valuing the company at nearly $3.8 billion. Redwood’s next ambition: By 2025, it aims to produce cathode materials for battery cells totaling 100 gigawatt-hours per year, enough to supply over 1 million EVs.