Redwood Materials hires former Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja

On Monday, Redwood Materials announced the hiring of Deepak Ahuja as its new chief financial officer. The appointment fills a vacancy left roughly a year and a half after the battery recycling and energy storage company’s last CFO departed. Ahuja, who previously served as the finance chief at Tesla and most recently as chief finance and business officer at drone company Zipline, joins a leadership team already heavily populated by former Tesla executives. This team includes Redwood founder and CEO JB Straubel, who was Tesla’s former chief technology officer, and Redwood CTO Colin Campbell, Tesla’s former vice president of powertrain. Ahuja and Straubel both left Tesla in 2019.

Despite Ahuja’s financial background and a valuation of over $6 billion, the incoming CFO stated that it is too early to discuss an initial public offering (IPO). He noted that Redwood Materials has already raised more than $2 billion in total capital, reducing the immediate pressure to enter public markets. In January, the company closed a $425 million Series E round—a late-stage funding round—which added the venture arms of Google and Nvidia to its cap table, a term for its list of shareholders. Deepak Ahuja, the incoming CFO and a small investor in the company, noted, “Redwood has, I’d say, the crème de la crème of investors already, who do have deep pockets.”

The executive transition comes as the company navigates a restructuring that affected 10% of its workforce (or around 135 employees), which TechCrunch first reported last month. This restructuring coincided with the retirement of its chief operating officer, who was also a former Tesla executive, alongside at least three other vice presidents. The company is currently shifting its resources toward its energy storage business, which is initially targeted at helping artificial intelligence data centers manage their power loads.

Ahuja expressed alignment with the company’s dual focus on recycling and energy storage, calling them critical needs for our country and society. Addressing the current market enthusiasm surrounding AI infrastructure and rumored IPOs of software-focused firms, Ahuja emphasized a cautious approach to scaling. He noted that he and Straubel have experienced cycles of hype and disillusionment, adding that managing a hardware-focused business naturally brings a degree of sanity to their growth plans and messaging.

Why it matters

Redwood Materials is scaling its battery recycling and energy storage business with veteran leadership, signaling a focus on operational maturity over immediate public market entry.