Latest news with #Lyten
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tesla Vet Ousted as Battery Startup Snaps Up $200M Deal from Bankrupt Rival
Lyten just raised $200 million to go shoppingand it's not wasting time. The California-based startup, known for its work on lithium-sulfur battery tech, is scooping up assets from bankrupt battery maker Northvolt AB. That includes a Polish energy storage factory built for around $200 million and a suite of Northvolt's intellectual property. The move signals a strategic shift for Lyten: from making next-gen battery cells for the U.S. EV market to owning more of the value chainand going aggressively after high-demand segments in Europe like grid storage and military drones. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with MSFT. Behind the scenes, Lyten is doing more than just acquiring hardware. It's reorganizing fast. About 45 employees were let go last week, including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) veteran Celina Mikolajczak, who helped steer Lyten's lithium-sulfur chemistry toward commercialization. While Norman, Lyten's sustainability chief, didn't disclose how much the Northvolt deal cost, he made one thing clear: Lyten is repositioning for hyper-growth in tightly defined geographies, chasing opportunities where other players are pulling back. Mikolajczak, for her part, called the tech breakthrough a major winone that defied expectations. The Gdansk plant will fire back up in Q4, initially using conventional nickel-based cells. But Lyten's longer-term bet is to convert it to its proprietary lithium-sulfur techcheaper to produce, free of China-dominated inputs, and positioned to compete with dominant Chinese lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. This isn't Lyten's first move on the industrial chessboard: it previously acquired a lithium-metal facility in California from Cuberg. With backing from Prime Movers Lab, Stellantis, FedEx, and the Luxembourg Future Fund, Lyten is putting itself on the map not just as a tech innovatorbut as a serious operator in the battery supply chain. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Lyten Secures More than $200 Million in Investment to Support its Ongoing Acquisition Strategy
SAN JOSE, Calif. & LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lyten, the supermaterial applications company and global leader in lithium-sulfur batteries, announced today it has secured more than $200 million in additional equity investment. This brings total investment to date in Lyten to more than $625 million. The additional investment is provided primarily from current investors. Lyten intends to accelerate its acquisition strategy and expansion plans in both the US and Europe with the additional capital. Additionally, Lyten announced today it has acquired the rights to Northvolt's energy storage products, Voltpack Mobile Systems (VMS), Voltrack, and future BESS products currently in development. This is Lyten's third Northvolt-related acquisition since November 2024. The VMS product is already in its third generation, with commercial installations throughout Europe. The core members of Northvolt's energy storage engineering team will be joining Lyten in Stockholm, Sweden, and VMS and future BESS products will be manufactured in Gdansk, Poland. Lyten previously announced the acquisition of two Northvolt assets. In November 2024, Lyten announced the acquisition of Northvolt's Cuberg battery manufacturing facility in California and earlier in July announced its plans to acquire Northvolt Dwa, Europe's largest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) manufacturing facility, located in Gdansk, Poland. 'We are thrilled by the investment community's response to our expansion strategy,' stated Dan Cook, Lyten CEO and Co-Founder. 'Lyten is seeing immediate demand for its battery products in support of energy independence and national security initiatives in the US and Europe. Drones, defense, datacenters and BESS are all markets seeking battery solutions independent of Chinese supply chains. This capital is focused on rapid, capital-efficient expansion of manufacturing and onboarding world-leading talent in both the US and European markets.' Zia Huque, Lyten investor and General Partner at Prime Movers Lab, added, 'We continue to be impressed by Lyten's ability to grow through acquisitions. This is a testament to both Lyten's technology and its leadership team's experience in private equity, which is unique in the battery industry. The ability to efficiently scale manufacturing capacity is critical for Lyten right now to meet the rapidly growing demand for its products." Lyten intends to immediately restart BESS manufacturing in Gdansk, Poland, upon the close of the previously announced acquisition of Northvolt Dwa and targets product deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2025. Deliveries will initially target existing European customers and then quickly expand to a wide range of global markets, including AI datacenter, industrial, commercial, and grid applications. David Ku, Lyten Investor and former Microsoft Corporate Vice President of AI and CTO of the Artificial Intelligence + Research division, stated, "Success in AI is determined by the ability to deliver abundant, reliable power. Battery energy storage is a critical piece of AI data center infrastructure. Lyten's lithium-sulfur batteries are uniquely positioned to deliver the performance and supply chain independence necessary to meet AI's insatiable need for batteries." Lyten and Northvolt intend to close the transaction of the Northvolt Dwa facility in Poland and Northvolt System's BESS product portfolio in Sweden in the third quarter of 2025. About Lyten Lyten, founded in 2015, is a supermaterial applications company that has received more than $625 million in equity investment and secured LOIs for $650M in financing from the Export Import Bank of the US. Lyten has built a proprietary materials platform, called Lyten 3D Graphene, that it uses to build better performing, lower cost, and decarbonizing products, including its next generation lithium-sulfur battery. Lyten corporate headquarters is in San Jose, CA and European headquarters is in Luxembourg. The company lists more than 540 patents granted or pending and is currently manufacturing in San Jose, CA. In November 2024, Lyten announced the acquisition of Northvolt's battery manufacturing plant in San Leandro, California to scale production to meet the demand for American made batteries. In 2024, Lyten announced its integration into Chrysler's Halcyon Concept electric vehicle, plans to integrate lithium-sulfur into AEVEX Aerospace's unmanned aerial vehicles, and the selection of Lyten Lithium-Sulfur for demonstration on-orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for launch later in 2025. Lyten was named Fast Company's #8 Most Innovative Energy Company, named to Silicon Valley Defense Journal's Top 100 National Security Companies from 2023 – 2025, and named one of America's Top Green Technology Companies by Time in 2024 and 2025.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Battery Startup Lyten Raises $200 Million to Fund Northvolt Deal
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.
Business Journals
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
Building a greener, smarter future
San Leandro's Gate510 campus has quickly become a hub for companies shaping the future of multiple industries. Air Protein, Coreshell and Lyten are among the innovators leveraging the infrastructure and support for makers in San Leandro. Read on to discover how they're redefining what's possible. AIR PROTEIN NASA-inspired research drives sustainable food production A food production facility that once made such American breakfast innovations as Eggo Waffles and Pop-Tarts is aiming to change the way we eat once again, this time with a sustainable twist. Air Protein opened its first Air Protein Farm on San Leandro's Gate510 campus in 2023, where it does just what its name suggests: make high-quality protein out of particles in the air. Co-founders Lisa Dyson and John Reed were inspired by research from the early days of NASA, which explored ways astronauts could produce food on long space journeys. They built on that work, creating a method for growing protein in cultures, similar to the production of yogurt, cheese, and wine. The result is a neutral-tasting protein flour that can be turned into or used in any food. 'We and our investors believe we've cracked the code on making functional ingredients that have a great cost profile,' Dyson said. 'Many companies are also looking for ingredients that are resource-efficient, and that's what we do. We help CPG [Consumer Packaged Goods] companies make great products for consumers.' In choosing San Leandro, Air Protein put the company's headquarters in a location with a history of food manufacturing. Dyson said the Air Protein project team and the landlord worked closely with the City throughout the process to obtain the necessary permits for building out the facility. 'With this particular site and location, there is fermentation happening with other companies around us,' Dyson said. These include 21st Amendment Brewery and Drake's Brewing. 'That made this more appealing than some other options.' The San Leandro Air Protein Farm produces samples of its protein in large enough quantities for food product companies to use in their product development. Next up will be a larger commercial facility to support full-scale use of Air Protein in food for grocery shelves. 'That's the most exciting thing about 2025,' Dyson said. 'We're turning the science innovation that NASA started in the 1960s and 1970s, completing the mission and making it a reality.' LYTEN San Leandro lands new battery cell production facility Every once in a while, an opportunity comes along that is just too good to pass up. That's what happened to Lyten, a San Jose-based company specializing in supermaterial applications, which focuses on commercializing lithium-sulfur batteries as a high-performance, low-cost alternative to lithium-ion technology. The company was in the process of planning a gigafactory in Nevada and thinking about its next major production facility outside California when the perfect location popped up in San Leandro, said Chief Battery Technology Officer Celina Mikolajczak. A lithium-metal battery maker had closed, leaving behind a manufacturing space and equipment that was immediately of interest. Lyten snapped up the equipment and 119,000-square-foot lease at Gate510 that November. Mikolajczak expects to have a 100-megawatt-hour production line in San Leandro up and running in 2026. 'We were planning and tooling for a big factory, and then the opportunity to take over the lease in San Leandro occurred,' she said. 'We said, 'Wow, that's a big enough space. There's enough dry room capability there. There's enough power. We could get one high-volume production line running there and learn a hell of a lot and get a jump on being ready for a bigger factory.' Lyten's San Leandro site will deliver lithium-sulfur battery cells for multiple types of energy storage customers, including defense and drone applications. In doing so, the company will help U.S. manufacturers keep more of their supply chain close to home. 'With lithium-sulfur, we can develop the technology and commercialize it in the U.S. and be part of creating the next wave of manufacturing in this country,' Mikolajczak said. CORESHELL New battery anodes boost domestic supply chain Batteries have quickly become a crucial component in efforts to transition from fossil fuels to sustainable forms of energy. But the batteries most widely used in electric vehicles and other key applications today come with limitations. San Leandro-based Coreshell is one of the innovators working to change this. The company has developed a battery anode that uses 100% domestically sourced metallurgical silicon instead of graphite, allowing it to store significantly more energy without relying on a risky supply chain. 'We're replacing something that is produced only in China with silicon that is produced widely here in the United States and in Europe,' said Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Tan. 'It can be even more cost-effective.' Founded in 2017, Coreshell relocated its development work to the Gate510 campus in 2020 and opted to remain in the city when it was time to expand into the first stages of production in 2024. It moved across the street to another building on the Gate510 campus, where a team of approximately 50 people has a four megawatt-hour pilot production facility that produces its first battery cells ready for commercialization in electric vehicles. 'We're proposing a foundational change in battery chemistry by replacing graphite — one of the largest single materials in a battery — with silicon,' Tan said. 'It is imperative that we show the market how that will help people power their daily lives.' San Leandro was ideal because it offered a combination of the necessary infrastructure — including access to the heavy power Coreshell needs for manufacturing — and efficient permitting and other City support, Tan said. A San Leandro headquarters also gives Coreshell access to a strong talent pipeline from throughout the Bay Area's growing battery expertise. San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez, and members of the City staff visited with Coreshell this spring. It was an opportunity for Tan and his team to share more about their work and talk about how the City can support the company's future growth. 'To have a receptive audience with the Mayor, the City Manager's office and others in San Leandro, it shows that they are invested in helping companies like Coreshell grow and be successful,' Tan said. 'We value that partnership and how they are actively working to find ways to support the success and growth of companies like ours.'
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
U.S. startup bets on lithium-sulfur to challenge China's EV battery dominance
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A new generation of battery technologies could loosen China's grip on the EV market, driven by breakthroughs that address long-standing technical hurdles. Chief among them: lithium-sulfur chemistries built on a domestic U.S. supply chain. Lyten, a Silicon Valley startup backed by Stellantis, plans to commercialize small Li-S batteries for military drones later this year. Larger versions for electric vehicles are expected before the end of the decade, officials at the San Jose company said. To be sure, lithium-sulfur batteries still face steep hurdles, including limited cycle life, the number of times they can be charged before performance drops. But after five years of development, Lyten sees a clear path to commercial success. 'This is no longer a moonshot,' Keith Norman, chief marketing and sustainability officer at Lyten, told Automotive News. 'I'm not saying that everything is done and tidied up and it's ready for perfect scale today. But this is a landing mission.' Last year, Lyten acquired a lithium-metal battery plant near its Bay Area headquarters, which it plans to convert for Li-S production. It also bought a lithium ion plant in Poland that makes batteries for energy storage, with plans to add Li-S production there as well. While Lyten's Li-S batteries are debuting in drones, broader applications are expected to follow. Potential markets include electronics, satellites, e-bikes, energy storage and eventually EVs. Sign up for the weekly Automotive News Mobility Report newsletter for the latest developments at the intersection of transportation and technology. Sulfur-based batteries don't use nickel, cobalt, manganese, or graphite like conventional lithium ion batteries. China dominates the global supply and refining of those materials, as well as the manufacturing of lithium ion cells themselves. While most lithium is mined and processed overseas, efforts are underway to build a U.S. supply chain. Lyten sources its lithium metal domestically, sidestepping Trump-era tariffs on battery components and broader geopolitical trade risks. 'You have something that gets you out of geopolitics with batteries and you can also produce it on every continent,' said Celina Mikolajczak, Lyten's outgoing chief battery officer. The company announced her departure on July 22. Sulfur is a U.S.-made alternative and a lighter material As a byproduct of oil refining, sulfur is cheap and abundant in the U.S. but hasn't drawn much attention as a battery material given the dominance of older chemistries. 'Most of the R&D activities from the big cell makers have been entirely focused on conventional lithium ion because that's what they make and they've had commercial success with it,' Mikolajczak said. 'So, they're just going to keep making it better.' But 40 years after the first commercially viable lithium ion battery, automakers, military drone manufacturers, and energy-storage firms are searching for U.S.-made alternatives. Sulfur is lighter than heavy metals and potentially offers higher energy density. Stellantis announced an investment in Lyten two years ago 'to develop applications for advanced lithium-sulfur EV batteries,' without disclosing the amount. In December, Stellantis said it's partnering with another Li-S startup, Zeta Energy of Houston. Sulfur-based batteries are also more environmentally friendly than chemistries that rely on mined heavy metals. The main weakness of a Li-S battery is a reaction called polysulfide shuttle. Sulfur from the positively charged cathode dissolves into liquid electrolyte, forming polysulfides that migrate to the anode. If not contained, they trigger reactions that reduce cycle life. 'With these cells, cycle life is the hardest thing,' Mikolajczak said. 'This is the thing we are pushing on and pushing on and continue to iterate on. And we're making really good progress.' Lyten mitigates polysulfide shuttle with its proprietary 3D Graphene material, which traps sulfur and prevents it from dissolving into the electrolyte. It also manufactures its own lithium-metal anodes, engineered to reduce unwanted reactions and extend cycle life. Challenges related to cycle life of sulfur batteries University of Texas at Austin professor Arumugam Manthiram, an early researcher into sulfur-based batteries, told Automotive News that Li-S batteries aren't ready for most applications. In addition to the polysulfide shuttle, Li-S batteries suffer from sulfur's poor conductivity, requiring added carbon and liquid electrolyte — 'dead weight' that lowers energy density, Manthiram said. 'Right now, because of these problems, we do not have acceptable cycle life so that we can use these in an electric vehicle,' said Manthiram, who has worked with Lyten. 'I don't think anyone has more than 250 charge-discharge cycles' in Li-S batteries. Manthiram said. The minimum for EVs and other heavy uses, such as energy storage, is a thousand cycles while retaining 80 percent of capacity, he added. Another approach for sulfur-based batteries is using solid electrolytes, something that's already in development for so-called solid state lithium ion batteries, Manthiram said. Either way, Li-S batteries are probably five to 10 years away for EVs, he added. Lyten's use of a liquid electrolyte makes it easier to convert existing battery plants with similar manufacturing processes, which the company could acquire as opportunities arise, Mikolajczak said. Lyten is also building its own $1 billion cell factory in Nevada. 'One of the beauties of this technology is that it can slot into an existing facility,' she said. 'Solid-state can't.' Send us a letter to the editor Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. 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