Nvidia backs $6 billion battery recycling giant in bid to power the AI boom (www.businessinsider.com)

Redwood Materials, the battery-recycling startup founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, raised $350 million in a round led by Eclipse and joined by Nvidia’s NVentures, lifting its valuation above $6 billion. The funding backs Redwood’s fast-growing Redwood Energy arm, which repurposes used EV batteries into grid-scale energy storage systems to supply and stabilize power for rapidly expanding AI data centers — a critical bottleneck as GPU clusters proliferate across the U.S. Nvidia’s strategic backing signals chipmakers’ interest in securing resilient, close-to-source power as part of the AI stack. Technically, Redwood combines recycled critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel) and Cathode Active Material production with large battery installations that use advanced power electronics and control software to store cheap or renewable generation and discharge during peak demand. The company already deployed systems with AI provider Crusoe and emphasizes rapid time-to-market and faster revenue generation compared with capital-heavy material manufacturing. By enabling domestic battery recycling, materials production, and integrated storage that complements solar, wind, gas and future nuclear plants, Redwood targets energy security, supply-chain sovereignty, and a practical path to power-hungry AI compute without expanding strained transmission infrastructure.