Redwood Materials has appointed Deepak Ahuja as Chief Financial Officer, bringing Tesla's former finance chief into the battery-recycling and energy-storage startup. Ahuja reunites with JB Straubel, Redwood's founder and former Tesla CTO who left the automaker in 2019 to launch the company.
Ahuja spent over a decade at Tesla, where he managed the company through its transition to profitability and its 2020 S&P 500 inclusion. He left Tesla in 2022 after serving as CFO since 2017, taking time away before joining Redwood Materials. His appointment signals the startup's push toward operational maturity as it scales battery recycling and energy-storage operations.
When asked about public markets timing, Ahuja stated it's "too early" to discuss an IPO. The cautious language reflects Redwood Materials' current stage, despite the company's ambitious mission to recover battery materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium from EV batteries and manufacturing waste. The startup has raised hundreds of millions in funding and inked major supply deals with automakers seeking to secure critical minerals for battery production.
Straubel founded Redwood Materials to address supply-chain bottlenecks in battery production. With Ahuja on board, the company gains someone who understands scaling operations at the intersection of manufacturing, energy, and automotive. His hiring comes as battery recycling emerges as a key enabler for EV adoption, with carmakers and governments prioritizing domestic sourcing of battery materials.
Redwood Materials competes against Li-Cycle, Ascend Elements, and Envirotech, among others, in the growing battery-recycling space. Ahuja's hiring reflects confidence in Redwood's ability to execute at scale. His experience navigating Tesla through regulatory, capital markets