Khosla Ventures is putting more money into Sakti3, the discrete battery developer based in Ann Arbor, Mich, as a returning investor in a $7 million Series B funding round, led by Beringea.
Sakti3 was founded in 2007 as a spin out from the University of Michigan by mechanical engineer professor Ann Marie Sastry. Two years ago the company raised $3 million from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., and $2 million from Khosla Ventures.
Sakti3 develops high performance lithium batteries for the automobile sector. The company remains tight-lip about what makes its technology unique compared to other lithium devises. One thing that’s known is that the company is trying to develop batteries that do not use carbon-based cathodes. Overtime carbon erodes, which can significantly alter performance.
Sastry says Sakti3 is a few years from going commercial.