Sakti3 expands in Ann Arbor, plans to create 112 jobs

One of Ann Arbor’s most promising start-ups is going after a lot of federal money this summer and creating a few jobs along the way.Sakti3 is applying for $15 million U.S. Department of Energy funds. That money will be part of a $30 round of financing its aiming to gather together this summer to continue its development of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and plug-in cars, like the Chevrolet Volt. The University of Michigan spin-off is working with officials from the federal government and General Motors to secure the funding.”We’re told decisions will come down in July,” says Ann Marie Sastry, founder of Sakti3 and an engineering professor at U-M.The Ann Arbor-based company is also looking to add to its team this year, but plans to pick the next members very carefully. Right now less than 20 people work for the company, which is looking for specialized employees. Think PhDs and the like.That’s because the company is in the prototyping stage of creating the new lithium-ion battery. It hopes to jump to manufacturing it on a small scale and they a pilot line within three years. Once that happens it could means thousands of new jobs (both white and blue collar) in Metro Detroit.”We’ll be in prototyping for a while and then growing,” says Ann Marie Sastry, founder of Sakti3.Source: Ann Marie Sastry, founder of Sakti3Writer: Jon Zemke