Ann Arbor-based Sakti3 scores $4.2M VC investment

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

And the latest winner in the venture capital game is … Sakti3. Come on down and collect your $4.2 million!

In what's becoming a common occurrence, the downtown Ann Arbor-based start-up recently received $4.2 million in seed capital. GM Ventures, the VC arm of General Motors, contributed $3.2 million. Japan-based Itochu Technology Ventures added another $1 million.

Sakti3 spun out of the University of Michigan two years ago as a developer of new lithium ion battery technology that is pushing forward the electrification of the automobile. It now has nearly 20 employees and a few independent contractors. It has open positions for specialists such as engineers with multiple advanced degrees.

"We're in very active hiring mode," says Ann Marie Sastry, CEO of Sakti3.

This is the first venture capital round for Sakti3. The company has already raised millions of dollars from the likes of Farmington Hills-based Beringea and Khosla Ventures, a prominent VC firm in Silicon Valley specializing in green technology.

Sakti3 plans to not only use the new infusion of cash to further develop its technology, it also expects to partner with GM to push forward its product development. Sastry calls this new partnership a "home field advantage" in a "very competitive" industry. "We're definitely trying to take advantage of that."

Source: Ann Marie Sastry, CEO of Sakti3
Writer: Jon Zemke