Deepak Ahuja, the finance chief who guided Tesla through its 2010 IPO and its early years of growth, has officially joined Redwood Materials as Chief Financial Officer.
The move reunites Ahuja with Redwood founder and CEO JB Straubel, Tesla’s former Chief Technology Officer, marking a consolidation of original Tesla leadership at the top of the North American battery supply chain.
Position at Tesla
Ahuja is one of the most consequential figures in Tesla’s early history. He joined Tesla in 2008 during its scrappy startup phase and served as CFO for 11 years across two stints.
He was a primary architect of Tesla’s financial survival during the 2008 cash crisis and oversaw the company’s transition from a niche roadster manufacturer to a global powerhouse before handing the reins to Zach Kirkhorn in 2019.
Following his tenure at Tesla, Ahuja served as CFO of Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet/Google’s healthcare division) and later as Chief Business and Financial Officer at the drone logistics firm Zipline. His return to the battery sector at Redwood comes at a critical moment as the company transitions from a pure recycling play into a domestic manufacturer of cathode and anode materials.
Redwood Transitions into Energy Company
Redwood Materials recently underwent a restructuring that included a 10% workforce reduction to refocus resources on its fastest-growing segment: Redwood Energy.
Launched in mid-2025, Redwood Energy repurposes retired EV batteries into grid-scale energy storage systems. The division has already found early success, deploying a 63-MWh microgrid in Nevada and securing second-life battery partnerships with major automakers such as Rivian and GM.
Redwood currently holds roughly 70% of the U.S. battery recycling market and is valued at over $6 billion following a $425 million Series E funding round earlier this year that included participation from Google and Nvidia.
Redwood IPO?
While Ahuja’s hire immediately sparked speculation about a public offering from Redwood given his experience taking Tesla public, he stated in an interview with CNBC that it is too early to discuss an IPO today.
Instead, he emphasized that Redwood is currently focused on "disciplined execution" and scaling its hardware-intensive manufacturing operations. That means vertically integrating the entire chain, from recycling feedstock to manufacturing battery materials and deploying energy storage in a fashion similar to Tesla.
Redwood Materials is building a closed-loop system that Ahuja believes is structurally unique, and the US Department of Energy has agreed to provide a $2 billion loan alongside venture capital backing to reach 20 GWh of storage by 2028.
