Redwood Supplies lays off 10% in restructuring to chase power storage enterprise

Redwood Supplies has laid off round 135 workers, or roughly 10% of its workforce, because it restructures to raised accommodate its rising power storage enterprise, TechCrunch has discovered.

The cuts come simply 5 months after Redwood reduce 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 troublesome time within the battery trade recently. 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 trade within the U.S. has backed away from its most optimistic and impressive plans to transition to electrical automobiles.

However Redwood Supplies founder and CEO JB Straubel informed workers that this new spherical of cuts shouldn’t be an indication that the corporate is heading down the identical path.

“Redwood immediately is the strongest it’s ever been,” Straubel wrote in an electronic mail to the employees who weren’t laid off, in line with a duplicate seen by TechCrunch. “The supplies enterprise is effectively on its technique to profitability and has an thrilling roadmap forward.”

Straubel famous that Redwood “proceed[s] to dominate the US battery recycling market” but in addition touted the corporate’s “nice momentum” in its new power storage enterprise. Redwood has just lately introduced offers with Crusoe AI and, most just lately, electrical automaker Rivian to supply recycled batteries that can be utilized to energy these corporations’ services. The corporate declined to remark past the contents of Straubel’s electronic mail.

In his message, Straubel wrote that “components of the corporate have expanded sooner than wanted to assist the path” of Redwood. In consequence, 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.

“We’re assured that we will ship on our crucial tasks with a smaller staff that’s extra centered,” he wrote. “We have now efficiently tailored to adjustments out there which have bankrupted lots of our opponents.”

Straubel went on to put in writing that he’s “extra excited than ever with our path forward as we construct essentially the most built-in and cost-effective crucial supplies and power storage enterprise on the planet.”

“This can be a self-sustaining enterprise and can proceed to make this firm extra priceless over time. We have now the staff and the expertise to do what no different firm can,” he wrote.

Employees who had been laid off had been informed by Redwood’s chief HR officer that the layoffs had been made “to sharpen our focus, our work and the scale of our groups to assist the path Redwood goes sooner or later,” in line with a duplicate of her electronic mail, which was seen by TechCrunch.

Workers who had been laid off are receiving severance and paid well being advantages, in line with Straubel’s electronic mail, in addition to “profession transition help.”

“I’m grateful to the roughly 135 workers who we are saying goodbye to immediately — they’ve all contributed to constructing Redwood,” he wrote.