The Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator is opening its software eligibility past startup founders affiliated with the College of California at Berkeley.
For the Batch 19 of the accelerator class, Berkeley SkyDeck for the primary time will settle for purposes from founders founders from throughout the U.S. and worldwide founders, no matter their UC Berkeley affiliation (a earlier requirement).
That is occurring amid some skepticism concerning the relevance of accelerators. Whereas they provide help, experience, and connections, how a lot worth do they really present?
Caroline Winnett, government director of Berkeley SkyDeck, and Chon Tang, founding associate of the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, imagine they’ll place the accelerator to play a extra expansive position in figuring out innovation world wide and discovering the perfect startups for the accelerator.
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Winnett mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat that widening the pool of purposes will end in larger high quality startups and extra alternative for quite a lot of candidates who in any other case may not have entry to a great accelerator.
Usually, Berkeley SkyDeck will get round 2,000 purposes for every class. Now it may develop with the broader eligibility.
“We’ve warned our screeners that they’re going to get more applications now,” Winnett mentioned.
Winnett mentioned that opening the purposes to extra startups world wide will give the accelerator entry to a wider pool in addition to presumably greater returns. It’s a recognition that nice concepts come from anyplace, not simply Berkeley. These wider startups will profit from the distinctive recommendation of the advisers on the Berkeley campus.
Functions at the moment are open with a remaining deadline of August 23. Functions can be found right here.
Two new monitor chairs
As well as, Batch 19 would be the first to work with two new monitor chairs: Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli for the Chip Observe and Heather Koshinsky for the Bio Observe, each of whom carry a long time of expertise in constructing and advising firms of their respective fields.
The 2 new monitor chairs have demonstrated vital success of their fields.
Sangiovanni-Vincentelli holds the Edgar L. and Harold H. Buttner Chair of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Sciences at UC Berkeley. He has based or cofounded a variety of main enterprises, most notably Cadence and Synopsys, each of which stay publicly-traded firms with multibillion-dollar market caps. He has additionally suggested or advises firms together with Intel, IBM, and Sony.
Koshinsky has based or cofounded 4 separate life sciences firms, one among which was acquired and has since turn out to be part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. She has beforehand served as an advisor to SkyDeck firms. At present, she is the co-founder and CEO of Investigen, a developer of sooner and extra environment friendly processes for DNA diagnostic testing.
The opposite tracks embody air and house, fintech and blockchain and local weather tech. These tracks faucet the experience of the Berkeley community and the chairs change each couple of years.
Winnett mentioned these advisers spotlight one of many benefits of Berkeley SkyDeck, which has entry to just about 700 advisers by means of the UC Berkeley community. There are additionally 70 trade companions and 510,000 UC Berkeley alumni (together with me, Go Bears). The accelerator has 9 staffers.
“Alberto and Heather are not just successful entrepreneurs: they are successful mentors. Their blend of practical experience and previous advisory roles make them ideal leaders for these fast-growing Berkeley SkyDeck tracks,” mentioned Winnett. “Their appointments are significant as we open SkyDeck up to a broader range of companies, providing an unparalleled foundation and vital connections that drive startup success. They bring world-class technical and scientific expertise plus a true understanding of the founder journey.”
With an acceptance charge round 1%, Berkeley SkyDeck stands as one of the vital aggressive accelerators on the earth. Every batch, comprising 20 to 25 startups, advantages from $200,000 in funding, $750,000 in free and discounted assets, and entry to the SkyDeck community. Berkeley SkyDeck additionally actively funds firms by way of the $60 million SkyDeck Fund II. (That funding is just not assured).
The SkyDeck Fund has invested in 160 firms to this point, representing a variety of companies and industries, from 30 international locations world wide. In contrast to different VC funds, the SkyDeck Fund shares half of its income with UC Berkeley, serving to to proceed the college’s mission of delivering excellence in training. Startups have gone on to lift greater than $2 billion.
“With the US seeing a record 5.5 million new business applications in 2023 and continuing to lead globally with just over 650 unicorns, expanding Berkeley SkyDeck’s eligibility to all US-based startups is a strategic move for us as both an accelerator and an investor,” mentioned Tang, founding associate of the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, in an announcement. “This surge in new company formations presents a unique opportunity, and now is the perfect time to broaden our horizons and tap into this unprecedented wave of innovation.”
The opening of Batch 19 purposes follows on from the second UC Berkeley AI Hackathon, held in June. Over 1,300 folks attended, with 12 firms successful prizes. Grand prize winner Dispatch AI and Local weather Tech Observe winner, Greenwise, every obtained $25,000 from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund to spend the summer season engaged on their mission, in addition to an invite to affix SkyDeck’s incubator.
The following Berkeley SkyDeck demo day is about for October 1 at UC Berkeley.
Among the many latest graduates from the accelerator is MindsDB, a customized AI creation platform. It has raised a complete of $54.4 million from prime traders together with Benchmark, Mayfield, NVentures, the enterprise capital fund of Nvidia. One other SkyDeck alumnus specializing in AI cell notion (United Kingdom) Hayden AI, has raised over $100 million in whole, with traders together with Mitsubishi Electrical Innovation Fund and Bridgestone Company (UC Berkeley). SkyDeck has been going since 2012.