About

World-class universities like UC Berkeley spawn technology that improve lives. We provide the capital, expertise, and community to turn breakthrough innovation into high impact companies.

Why California Innovation Fund?

Differentiated Deal Flow

Early access to top founders and technologies at UC Berkeley and global innovation programs

Performance with Purpose

Investing in companies that deliver strong returns and positive impact while supporting the Berkeley ecosystem

Extensive & Enduring Expertise

Providing founders with deep experience, mentorship, and networks across sectors and geographies

Our Investment Process

 

  • We leverage our on-campus presence and relationships to source investment opportunities from several incubators, accelerators, labs, and our own founder’s graduate level Entrepreneurship course. We also get exclusive access to companies leveraging Berkeley’s IP – even in oversubscribed rounds.

  • We have a 4 phase due diligence process where we evaluate technology, market size, founder capabilities, and valuation, among other factors. We often leverage the expertise of professors and LPs with specific domain knowledge to inform our decisions.

  • Post-investment, we lend our operating knowledge, wide-ranging industry expertise, and executive coaching experience to support our portfolio companies. We also make connections between founders and additional on-campus resources.

 

Funds

California Innovation Fund I - Launched in 2021, the fund has made investments in 27 companies within the University of California ecosystem. The majority of investments are in Seed and Series A rounds, however it has taken advantage of its opportunistic mandate to invest in select later stage companies, notably leveraging its guaranteed pro rata rights access to oversubscribed rounds. The fund’s greatest industry exposure is to biotech and data/AI.


California Innovation Fund II - Launching in 2026, Fund II seeks to replicate and expand on the success of Fund I. It will remain opportunistic on both company stage and sector, and will expand its deal flow pipeline to include additional robust university entrepreneurship ecosystems with ties to UC Berkeley and members of our team, namely the Technical University of Munich and its affiliated Center for Digital Technology & Management.