April 2025
Article
4 minutes

Top 10 Private Companies Progress Report: Redwood Materials

Claire Shaw – Portfolio Director

 

Redwood Materials is a lithium-ion battery recycling company. Their business model is centred around creating a circular supply chain by extracting valuable materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium from old consumer electronics and end of life EV batteries. These materials are then refined to produce anode and cathode materials for new batteries and sold back to manufacturers for use in new products.

Redwood generates revenue through two main channels: Recycling Services, whereby companies pay Redwood to process their waste materials, and Sales of Refined Materials, where Redwood sells the extracted and refined materials back to manufacturers for use in new battery production.

Redwood Materials is currently the largest lithium-ion battery maker in North America with approximately 70% market share.

A wide-angle view of a spacious industrial facility set in a landscape with hills, with the company name visible on the building.

Key Facts

Operational Highlights

  • During 2024, Redwood extracted enough lithium and nickel out of recycled batteries to supply 20 gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium-ion batteries, or roughly equivalent to 250,000 electric vehicles.

  • Redwood expanded partnerships during the year with major companies like Panasonic, BMW, General Motors and Toyota, underscoring its strategic role in the industry and consolidating its position as a partner of choice.

  • Redwood Materials broke ground on its second facility or ‘campus’ in South Carolina in January 2024. The facility aims to produce 100-GWh of cathode and anode components annually, which is enough to support the production of over 1 million electric vehicles.

Financial Highlights

  • In November 2024, the company announced they were on track to generate $200mn of revenue during the year.

  • To date, Redwood has now raised nearly $2bn of equity capital along with an additional $2bn loan commitment from the US Department of Energy.

  • Since Redwood’s Series D raise in 2023, the company have made very good progress in building a robust and diversified recycling and refining business.

EV: Equity Values: the value of a company available to its shareholders. Shown throughout as at 31 December 2024. Logos courtesy of relevant companies. US Dollar.

Risk Factors

Unlisted investments such as private companies, in which the Trust has a significant investment, can increase risk. These assets may be more difficult to sell, so changes in their prices may be greater.

The trust invests in overseas securities. Changes in the rates of exchange may also cause the value of your investment (and any income it may pay) to go down or up.

About the author - Claire Shaw

Portfolio Director

Claire Shaw is a portfolio director and plays a prominent role in servicing Scottish Mortgage’s UK shareholder base. Before joining in 2019, she spent over a decade as a fund manager with a focus on managing European equity portfolios for a global client base. With a background in analysing companies and communicating investment ideas, Claire is also responsible for creating engaging content that makes the Scottish Mortgage portfolio accessible to all its shareholders. Beyond that, she works closely with the managers, meeting with portfolio companies and conducting in-depth portfolio discussions with shareholders.

Regulatory Information

This content was produced and approved at the time stated and may not have been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of production and may not reflect current thinking. Read our Legal and regulatory information for further details.

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Europe

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (the “Company”) is an alternative investment fund for the purpose of Directive 2011/61/EU (the “AIFM Directive”). Baillie Gifford & Co Limited is the alternative investment fund manager (“AIFM”) of the Company and has been authorised for marketing to Professional Investors in this jurisdiction.

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Belgium

The Company has not been and will not be registered with the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiële Diensten en Markten / Autorité des services et marchés financiers) (the FSMA) as a public foreign alternative collective investment scheme under Article 259 of the Belgian Law of 19 April 2014 on alternative collective investment institutions and their managers (the Law of 19 April 2014). The shares in the Company will be marketed in Belgium to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 only. Any offering material relating to the offering has not been, and will not be, approved by the FSMA pursuant to the Belgian laws and regulations applicable to the public offering of securities. Accordingly, this offering as well as any documents and materials relating to the offering may not be advertised, offered or distributed in any other way, directly or indirectly, to any other person located and/or resident in Belgium other than to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 and in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public pursuant to the Law of 19 April 2014. The shares offered by the Company shall not, whether directly or indirectly, be marketed, offered, sold, transferred or delivered in Belgium to any individual or legal entity other than to professional investors within the meaning the Law of 19 April 2014 or than to investors having a minimum investment of at least EUR 250,000 per investor.

Germany

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Luxembourg

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Switzerland

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Singapore

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