Redwood Materials hires former Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja

Redwood Materials hired former Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja as chief financial officer, a move that signals growing corporate maturity and strengthens its credibility with investors and lenders. The appointment follows recent restructuring (roughly 135 layoffs, ~10% of staff) and comes after a $425m Series E round that pushed valuation above $6bn and a $2bn DOE loan commitment. Ahuja — who has longstanding ties to founder JB Straubel and has been a Redwood investor — said an IPO is “too early,” but his hire could speed financial readiness and investor confidence for future public markets. Operational milestones such as a 12 MW / 63 MWh second‑life battery microgrid for Crusoe further underscore Redwood’s pivot toward energy storage, which may meaningfully impact the EV battery materials and stationary storage markets and attract attention from strategic investors including Google, Nvidia and Microsoft.