Redwood Materials, a battery recycling firm, recently received an influx of $1 billion in equity funding. This new investment is part of the firm’s ongoing mission to increase its recycling capacity.
Following a $2 billion loan from federal government sources to construct a facility in Nevada, and after adding up earlier rounds of funding, a total of $1 billion has been collected.
Nevada Facility Plans
Located in McCarran, Nev., the new campus is expected to generate 36,000 metric tons of copper foil that is designed for high-grade batteries and around 100,000 metric tons of cathode active materials using both virgin and recycled materials, a Department of Energy (DOE) press statement explained.
The DOE also announced that operations at the new facility will be an industry first in terms of domestic production of anode copper foil and cathode active materials in “a fully closed-loop lithium-ion battery manufacturing process.”
Exactly one year from when construction began, the recycler additionally began to produce anode foil at its northern Nevada site, which was outlined in a press release.
“Phase One of copper foil is now complete and later this year, we expect to begin cathode qualification,” it noted. “By producing critical battery materials domestically at scale, we will drive down battery costs, create thousands of U.S. jobs, and help retain billions of dollars in the U.S. economy that would otherwise be spent overseas.”
It was also announced in a press release that Panasonic will pioneer the utilization of recycled copper foil for battery cell production. And, in 2025 when its plant located in Kansas is operational, the Japanese firm will be using Redwood’s cathode material as well.
$2 Billion Loan Details
A Redwood statement highlighted that the loan will be used in multiple stages. “Redwood will draw upon this milestone-based financing in tranches that support our phased construction and allows us to unlock funding as we accelerate the construction and expansion of our first battery materials campus,” it noted.
Redwood stated that to secure the loan, the company has “undergone an extensive diligence process that thoroughly reviewed our technology, our ability to repay the loan, product demand and dozens of other factors to get to this stage.”
Series D Funding
This most recent investment was facilitated by several companies, including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and T. Rowe Price Associates. Joining this round of funding were additional investors such as OMERS, Caterpillar Venture Capital, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and Deepwater Asset Management.
Redwood extended its appreciation for the funds stating, “With this additional capital, we’ll continue to assemble an industry-leading technical team, ensuring top-notch execution in sustainable battery materials production.”
Further explaining that it “will use our Series D funding to continue building our capacity, expanding the domestic battery supply chain and allowing our customers to purchase battery materials made in the U.S. for the first time.”
Concluding that the firm is “relentlessly focused on expanding our collection of end-of-life batteries, increasing our refining capability to recover higher quantities and harnessing their value to make the most sustainable products.”
