Redwood attracts Google for its $425M Series E as AI power needs rise

Google is the latest capitalist to backmost Redwood Materials arsenic the artillery recycling and cathode accumulation startup scales a caller vigor retention task to powerfulness AI information centers and different concern sites.

Redwood Materials, founded by erstwhile Tesla CTO JB Straubel, past October raised $350 million successful a Series E circular led by task steadfast Eclipse. The circular included a caller strategical concern by Nvidia’s task superior arm, NVentures.

More investors, including newcomer Google, person piled successful since, pushing the Series E to $425 million, the institution said. Existing investors Capricorn and Goldman Sachs person besides returned with caller investments.

The company’s valuation was not publically disclosed, but a root acquainted with the circular told TechCrunch its post-money valuation was northbound of $6 billion, much than a cardinal higher than its erstwhile valuation. This latest concern pushes Redwood’s full superior raised to $4.9 billion.

The attraction for Google, Nvidia, and others successful this latest circular appears to beryllium vigor retention — and its quality to powerfulness information centers — a newer concern task wrong Redwood.  

Redwood Materials was founded successful 2017 to make a circular proviso concatenation for batteries. It initially focused connected recycling scrap from artillery accumulation and user electronics similar compartment telephone batteries and laptop computers. Redwood processes that scrap and extracts materials that are traditionally mined, similar nickel and lithium. The recently processed materials are past sold to customers specified arsenic Panasonic, which usage them to marque batteries.

Redwood has continued to grow its concern beyond recycling. The Carson City, Nevada-based institution added cathode accumulation respective years ago, and past summer, launched an energy-storage business that repurposes EV batteries that aren’t rather acceptable to beryllium recycled and turns them into micro-grids that tin proviso powerfulness to AI information centers and large-scale concern sites.

That caller business, called Redwood Energy, got its commencement arsenic the request for information centers skyrocketed.

“As energy request surges — driven by AI, information centers, manufacturing and electrification — vigor retention is nary longer optional; it is indispensable infrastructure,” the institution said successful a blog station announcing the caller funding.

And Redwood seems to person the means to powerfulness astatine slightest immoderate of those information centers. The institution said successful June it recovers much than 70% of each utilized oregon discarded artillery packs successful North America, galore of which tin person a 2nd beingness arsenic vigor storage.

Redwood said past twelvemonth it had much than 1 gigawatt-hour worthy successful its inventory and expected to person different 4 gigawatt-hours implicit the coming months. The institution expects to deploy 20 gigawatt-hours of grid-scale retention by 2028.