Berkeley SkyDeck – which is the global hub for entrepreneurship and a leading accelerator – announced that Demo Day for Batch 15 will happen on April 4, 2023. And investors from several major Silicon Valley venture capitalist firms will hear from 18 startups, including 15 new companies and three alumni startups, hailing from 8 countries and 4 continents (North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia).
The startups will present innovative solutions in chips and hardware, robotics, enterprise, generative AI, B2B products, and health tech. And during Demo Day, each startup will offer a 5-minute presentation to investors representing some of the largest and most active VCs across Silicon Valley.
The applications for Batch 15 were up 120% compared to the previous fall application period, and Berkeley SkyDeck’s acceptance rate remains at just over 1.5%. And each selected cohort company receives $200,000 in funding, free and discounted resources worth $750,000, and access to the Berkeley SkyDeck network of UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, and advisors. The alumni of Berkeley SkyDeck – which include Deepscribe, MindsDB, Chemix, and Xendit – have enjoyed success in their respective industries, collectively raising more than $1.7 billion in funding, with nearly 20 exits through acquisition or public offering. This program has also launched Berkeley SkyDeck Europe to expand its global footprint, with its first cohort presenting at a Demo Day this past fall.
Berkeley SkyDeck had recently closed applications for Batch 16, with the cohort term expected to start in early May 2023. And now in its fourth year and investing from its $60 million Fund II, SkyDeck Fund has invested in 180 companies, representing a wide range of businesses and industries from 30 countries around the world. A new-generation venture fund called SkyDeck Fund shares half of its profits with UC Berkeley, thus continuing the university’s mission of delivering excellence in education.
This is the list of companies:
1.) Alvva
USA – FinTech/Legal Tech – Alvva is known as a bicultural platform that supports the upward mobility of underserved US immigrants by helping them submit and pay for a successful immigration application in a fast, accessible, and accurate way.
2.) Avion Health
USA – HealthTech/Drones – Avion Health designs, builds, and operates autonomous drones to deliver vital medical supplies to remote areas in emerging markets.
3.) Clearpol
USA – HealthTech/Digital Health – At Clearpol, the company is building the operating system for regulatory compliance & risk management for the healthcare industry.
4.) Dispatch Goods
USA – ClimateTech – Dispatch Goods created a system of reusable containers by partnering with restaurants and food delivery apps. And this aims to replace single-use containers in the food delivery and take-out sector.
5.) HDAX Therapeutics
USA/Canada – BioTech/MedTech – HDAX Therapeutics is developing a new class of disease-modifying therapeutics for neurological diseases, starting with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in cancer patients.
6.) Kurier
USA/Mexico – Logistics/Platform – ML-powered E-commerce Transportation Platform that aggregates carriers’ capabilities to enable faster, cheaper, and greener end-to-end deliveries all through a single contract and API integration for e-commerce sellers.
7.) Manot
USA/Armenia – B2B Software/AI – manot is a SaaS platform that provides “real-time analysis of real-world AI”, identifying systematic blindspots and optimizing data sampling to de-bias AI. This platform provides insights and analytics to AI teams, curating better data and preventing costly outcomes.
8.) milvia
USA – HealthTech/FemTech – milvia is an online platform that helps US patients search, book, and manage affordable IVF and egg freezing by traveling overseas. We’re building a decentralized hospital for the world.
9.) NuPort Robotics
USA/Canada – Robotics – NuPort Robotics is building the world’s first autonomous trucking company providing an aftermarket retrofit kit for converting existing trucks to autonomously drive over short distances for clients in retail, logistics, and manufacturing.
10.) Okomera
USA/France – BioTech/MedTech – Okomera enables microfluidics-powered Precision Cancer Medicine by pioneering the automation and miniaturization of personalized tumor biopsy studies.
11.) Red Arrow Therapeutics
USA/Japan – BioTech/MedTech – Red Arrow Therapeutics develops nanotechnology to precisely deliver drugs through the body to the target disease. And the company’s first pipeline safely and effectively delivers cytokines for solid tumor treatment.
12.) Rounded
USA/France – FinTech/Crypto – Rounded is building a non-custodial Crypto Management solution for businesses. And the go-to-market product is a two-sided intuitive crypto sub-ledger that saves CPAs 90% of crypto bookkeeping time while enabling their clients to keep track of all their crypto operations.
13.) SEMRON
Germany – Hardware/Chip/AI – SEMRON develops a 3D scaled AI inference chip, incorporating GPT-3.5-like models on a square cm silicon with minimal power consumption. And this new CMOS-compatible semiconductor technology enables running generative AI at the edge, making it possible for wearable tech, smartphones, and beyond.
14.) SirenOpt
USA – Deep Tech – SirenOpt makes a sensing and software platform that accelerates process optimization and enables cost-effective manufacturing of high-performance thin films with an initial focus on industrial lithium-ion battery electrode and solar cell coating processes.
15.) Skills Tech
USA/Mexico – EdTech/Future of Work – Skills.tech is harnessing the potential of hundreds of millions around the globe, starting by training talented engineers in LATAM into skilled data scientists for LATAM and US enterprises. And the company invests in their education and finance the repayment through an income-sharing agreement.
16.) Socialtrait.ai
USA/Australia – B2B Software/AI – Socialtrait’s Generative AI platform utilizes GPT-3 supercharged with the proprietary Reinforcement Learning framework to spin up a persistent digital twin with thousands of AI agents that mimic human behavior in a social context.
17.) VoiceBeam
USA/Germany – Consumer Software – VoiceBeam transforms human-to-human communication by providing the first platform for audio-augmented reality communication. And it enables users to have spontaneous voice conversations that bring the natural flow of real-time conversations into the digital world.
18.) Worqout
USA/Mexico – Fitness Tech/Platform – Worqout connects people through fitness and they are connecting a powerful social network with a complete fitness app.
The Berkeley SkyDeck Demo Day will be hosted from 3:00 – 6:30 pm at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, California.
KEY QUOTES:
“Batch 15 is a formidable group of impressive startups. Berkeley SkyDeck selects cohort companies that push the boundaries of their industries while following fundamentally sound business models, and both qualities are essential in the current economic climate. From new ways to access and deliver healthcare, to sustainability in logistics, better management of alternative assets and more, these startups bring lots of interesting investment opportunities. We are confident that Batch 15 will shine bright at Demo Day.”
— Caroline Winnett, Executive Director at Berkeley SkyDeck
“Berkeley SkyDeck’s global focus offers Demo Day attendees the opportunity to look outside Silicon Valley for their next investments, broadening their portfolios and giving more companies around the world the chances they need to succeed. We continue to be astounded by the response to each Demo Day and look forward to Batch 15 making a similarly-strong impression.”
— Chon Tang, Founding Partner, Berkeley SkyDeck Fund
