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 realized.
The cuts come simply 5 months after Redwood minimize 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 business these days. 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 bold plans to transition to electrical autos.
However Redwood Supplies founder and CEO JB Straubel instructed workers that this new spherical of cuts is just not an indication that the corporate is heading down the identical path.
“Redwood as we speak 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 duplicate considered by TechCrunch. “The supplies enterprise is effectively on its approach 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 lately introduced offers with Crusoe AI and, most 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 e-mail.
In his message, Straubel wrote that “elements of the corporate have expanded quicker than wanted to assist the path” of Redwood. Consequently, he stated 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 will ship on our vital tasks with a smaller staff that’s extra centered,” he wrote. “We have now efficiently tailored to adjustments out there which have bankrupted a lot of our opponents.”
Straubel went on to put in writing that he’s “extra excited than ever with our path forward as we construct probably the most built-in and cost-effective vital supplies and power storage enterprise on the planet.”
“This can be a self-sustaining enterprise and can proceed to make this firm extra precious over time. We have now the staff and the know-how to do what no different firm can,” he wrote.
Staff who had been laid off had been instructed by Redwood’s chief HR officer that the layoffs had 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 duplicate of her e-mail, which was considered by TechCrunch.
Staff who had 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 workers who we are saying goodbye to as we speak — they’ve all contributed to constructing Redwood,” he wrote.
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