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Berkeley SkyDeck, a world hub for entrepreneurship and tech accelerator, is gearing up for its largest Demo Day but because it prepares to showcase 24 progressive startups.
The occasion is scheduled to happen on September 20 at Zellerbach Corridor in Berkeley, California, in on the campus of the College of California at Berkeley.
The lineup of Batch 16 firms collaborating in Demo Day represents a various vary of industries, together with local weather tech, robotics, deep tech and AI, chips and {hardware}, gaming, and fintech. This yr’s Demo Day units a brand new file for Berkeley SkyDeck, highlighting the group’s continued development and affect within the startup ecosystem. Buyers from main Silicon Valley funding and enterprise capital companies may have the chance to listen to from every of the collaborating firms.
Batch 16 is the biggest cohort so far, with 24 firms chosen out of 1,800 functions, leading to an acceptance fee of simply 1.3%. Notably, this cohort marks a major milestone because it consists of the first-ever life science startups based by UC Berkeley college members by the Life Science Entrepreneurship Enterprise Grant.
Among the many faculty-led firms collaborating within the newly launched UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Heart (LSEC) Bio Observe are AsparaGlue and MZR Neurotech. Moreover, Batch 16 options startups on the forefront of their respective industries, similar to generative AI for gaming and SaaS, low-cost efficiency semiconductors and microchips, and journey bookings.
Chon Tang, founding accomplice of Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, stated in an announcement, “The applied sciences that energy the longer term received’t come out of Silicon Valley alone. We imagine Batch 16 represents a number of the most progressive concepts from all over the world, and we’re excited to see the response from the broader funding group.”
Berkeley SkyDeck gives chosen cohort firms with advantages together with $200,000 in funding, free and discounted assets valued at $750,000, and entry to an intensive community of UC Berkeley alumni, college, and advisors.
The affect of Berkeley SkyDeck’s help is obvious from the success of earlier cohorts. Notably, a number of startups from Batch 15, similar to Clearpol, Socialtrait, and Okomera, had been capable of safe substantial seed funding rounds starting from $3 million to $5 million from main enterprise capital funds shortly after their Demo Day displays.
Caroline Winnett, govt director at Berkeley SkyDeck, stated in an announcement, “When choosing firms for a Berkeley SkyDeck Cohort, we search for firms which have moonshot visions to fully change the world. This group of firms is poised to assist us rethink wearable expertise, the stream of funds, remedy for most cancers, and autonomous robots, amongst different industries.”
With functions for Batch 17 lately closed, Berkeley SkyDeck is already seeing substantial curiosity, with the variety of functions practically doubling in comparison with Batch 16. Notably, Batch 17 will introduce a specialised Local weather Tech Observe led by Shuo Yang, a accomplice at main local weather tech enterprise capital agency Lowercarbon Capital.
As Berkeley SkyDeck enters its fourth yr and continues to take a position from its $60 million Fund II, it has already made a major affect by supporting 160 firms from 30 international locations throughout numerous industries.
What units the SkyDeck Fund aside from different enterprise capital funds is its distinctive profit-sharing mannequin, the place half of its income are reinvested into UC Berkeley, furthering the college’s dedication to delivering excellence in schooling.