The UC Berkeley Haas School of Business announced it has received a $10 million anonymous gift to strengthen its entrepreneurship programs and ensure long-term support for student innovators.
The transformative endowment will enhance Haas’ position as one of the nation’s leading institutions for cultivating startup founders. It will make entrepreneurship opportunities more accessible to all students, regardless of background or prior experience.
The donors, both UC Berkeley alumni, share a deep commitment to fostering innovation and inclusivity in entrepreneurship. Their contribution will support an expanded curriculum, mentorship programs, startup pitch days, founder development, and team collaboration initiatives across the Haas community.
The gift is designed to sustain Berkeley Haas’ mission of shaping business leaders who redefine who gets to innovate. It will bolster entrepreneurship infrastructure across three major campus programs: UC LAUNCH, the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub), and StEP (Student Entrepreneurship Program).
Approximately 40% of the endowment’s annual earnings will support UC LAUNCH, Berkeley Haas’ flagship accelerator, and the University of California system’s leading startup accelerator. UC LAUNCH offers a three-month, rigorous program that enables student-led teams to refine their ventures under the guidance of experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, utilizing Lean Startup methodologies.
Another 30% of the endowment will fund the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub), including the role of its “navigator,” a dedicated staff member who connects students with Berkeley’s broad innovation ecosystem. The eHub plays a key role in helping first-generation and underrepresented students access entrepreneurship resources among the campus’s 100+ innovation entities, including incubators and venture programs.
The remaining 30% of the funds will go toward StEP (Student Entrepreneurship Program), a 10-week campus-wide incubator that supports startups at the earliest stages of development. StEP emphasizes inclusive team formation, idea validation, and founder readiness, providing participants with structured sessions to transform ideas into viable ventures.
UC Berkeley’s influence on global entrepreneurship continues to expand. For the third consecutive year, the university ranked as the top producer of venture-backed company founders among undergraduate alumni worldwide, according to the 2025 PitchBook university rankings. PitchBook also found that UC Berkeley graduates more female founders than any other institution globally.
KEY QUOTES:
“This generous gift to Haas will provide vital and lasting support for our entrepreneurship programs, helping us to double down on the human parts of entrepreneurship: creativity, collaboration, and community. The endowment also ensures that entrepreneurship opportunities at Berkeley are accessible to all of our students and not limited by background or prior experience.”
Jenny Chatman, Dean, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
“This endowment is aligned with Berkeley’s mission to stay true to its academic core while becoming an engine of innovation and impact. We believe that our Berkeley startup founders—through the power of science, innovation, and education—are changing the world.”
Rich Lyons, Chancellor, UC Berkeley
“As the top producer of founders among all universities, our UC Berkeley and Haas entrepreneurs will be empowered at the earliest stages to build out novel startups that will address the world’s most pressing challenges.”
Saikat Chaudhuri, Faculty Director, Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub
“Focusing on entrepreneurship for all and a strong, interconnected curriculum, we’ll streamline the student startup journey, amplifying the potential to solve social, environmental, and economic challenges. We don’t have time to waste, so this generosity is perfectly timed.”
Rhonda Shrader, Executive Director, UC LAUNCH and Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program (BHEP)
