Redwood Supplies has laid off round 135 workers, or roughly 10% of its workforce, because it restructures to raised accommodate its rising vitality 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 currently. 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 bold plans to transition to electrical autos.
However Redwood Supplies founder and CEO JB Straubel informed workers that this new spherical of cuts isn’t an indication that the corporate is heading down the identical path.
“Redwood in the present day 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 replica considered by TechCrunch. “The supplies enterprise is effectively on its solution 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 vitality storage enterprise. Redwood has just lately introduced offers with Crusoe AI and, most just lately, electrical automaker Rivian to offer recycled batteries that can be utilized to energy these firms’ services. The corporate declined to remark past the contents of Straubel’s electronic mail.
In his message, Straubel wrote that “elements of the corporate have expanded quicker than wanted to help the route” 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 are able to ship on our important initiatives with a smaller crew that’s extra targeted,” he wrote. “We now have efficiently tailored to adjustments available in the market which have bankrupted a lot of our opponents.”
Straubel went on to jot down that he’s “extra excited than ever with our path forward as we construct probably the most built-in and cost-effective important supplies and vitality storage enterprise on the earth.”
“It is a self-sustaining enterprise and can proceed to make this firm extra useful over time. We now have the crew 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 help the route Redwood goes sooner or later,” in line with a replica of her electronic 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 electronic mail, in addition to “profession transition help.”
“I’m grateful to the roughly 135 workers who we are saying goodbye to in the present day — they’ve all contributed to constructing Redwood,” he wrote.
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