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Lyten, a California startup developing lithium-sulfur batteries, raised $200 million from existing investors to fund its acquisition of assets from bankrupt manufacturer Northvolt AB.
The new funding enables Lyten to acquire intellectual property related to energy storage systems, in addition to its previously announced deal to purchase and restart production at Northvolt’s Polish assembly plant. The money may also be used to fund further acquisitions, the company said.
Lyten is accelerating acquisitions to tap into demand for stationary storage and military drones in Europe, said Keith Norman, the company’s chief marketing and sustainability officer. It’s also pivoting from just making cells for the U.S. market, where a slowdown in electric-vehicle sales has forced companies to rethink their business models.
“We’re moving downstream in the batteries to own more of the value chain,” Norman said. “And we’re identifying manufacturing assets that are potentially available at a discount to their value because of the challenges in the market.”
Norman declined to say how much Lyten is paying for Northvolt’s IP or the Poland plant. The factory cost Northvolt about $200 million to build.
After scooping up Northvolt assets, lithium sulfur battery developer Lyten lets go 15% of its staff, including its prominent chief battery strategist—Celina Mikolajczak—and 45 others. The Information. https://t.co/PdX9z20WEz
— Steve LeVine (@stevelevine) July 24, 2025
Lyten’s strategy shift has spurred cost-cutting and a reorganization. Last week, Celina Mikolajczak, a Tesla Inc. veteran who led the push to commercialize Lyten’s proprietary lithium-sulfur battery cells, was let go along with about 45 other employees, The Information reported. Lyten confirmed Mikolajczak left the company and declined to comment on changes in head count.
“We’re moving into a hyper-growth phase into some very specific markets, in very specific geographies, and we need to make sure our resources in the organization are aligned to these opportunities,” Norman said.
Mikolajczak said she was pleased Lyten managed to get a battery chemistry that many thought was a “no-hoper” to the point of commercialization during her tenure.
“That’s a huge achievement, and I am super proud to have been part of the team to do it,” she said.
Lyten will restart production at the Gdansk, Poland factory, which was idled in the first quarter, using conventional nickel-based cells that Northvolt had already built. It plans to resume customer deliveries by the fourth quarter of this year.
Longer term, Lyten aims to convert the factory to use its proprietary lithium-sulfur cells, which it says are cheaper to produce and don’t rely on ingredients controlled by China. It also contends its lithium-sulfur cells can compete on price and energy density with Chinese lithium iron phosphate cells that dominate the energy storage market.
The Polish hub produces energy storage products, including housing, wiring, inverters, control and safety systems and other components. Last year, Lyten bought a lithium-metal manufacturing facility near San Francisco that belonged to Cuberg, a startup Northvolt acquired in 2021.
Lyten’s investors include Prime Movers Lab, Luxembourg Future Fund, Stellantis NV and FedEx Corp.
