NEWS & UPDATES

Berkeley Startup Cluster Advisors Provide Feedback on 2019 Diversity, Real Estate, and Marketing Initiatives 

Berkeley Startup Cluster (BSC) Advisors met last Thursday at Berkeley City College to review progress made toward the BSC workplan in 2018. Participants discussed new Berkeley innovation ecosystem metrics, reflected on signature 2018 events, learned what the City of Berkeley has done to increase access to its downtown, and heard how Advisors' feedback is shaping city policies and infrastructure. Advisors also discussed key BSC initiatives to increase high quality commercial real estate, market Berkeley as a great place for startups, and support workforce diversity and inclusive growth. Expect more about all of these initiatives in 2019!

UPCOMING EVENTS

East Bay Startups - Founder's Fireside

TONIGHT, December 11 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
CoWorking With Wisdom 2222 Harold Way Berkeley, CA 94704

Join the East Bay Startup Foundation for Founder's Fireside for networking, refreshments, and a special fireside chat with the founders of Fauna Bio, an innovative biotech startup researching the cures for human diseases that may be found in animal biology. The panel talk with Ashley Zehnder, Katie Grabek & Linda Goodman will be facilitated by Coach and Leadership Trainer Brigette Iarrusso.

Register here for this free event.

The Batchery's Demo Day

Wed, December 12 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Berkeley City Club // 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, 94704

The Batch 7 Demo Day will showcase select Batchery startups that have worked hard to develop their companies and their pitches with the support of a great group of Batchery "Investor Advisors".

Request a ticket here. (Please note that this event has a target audience of accredited investors, but others may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.)

East Bay Life Sciences Holiday Party

Wed, December 12, 2018 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Caribou Biosciences // 2929 Seventh Street #105, Berkeley, CA 94710

Join Biocom,  Caribou Biosciences, the City of Berkeley, the City of Emeryville, Berkeley Emeryville BIO, the Berkeley Startup Cluster, and Wareham Development for a festive happy hour and camaraderie to celebrate the holiday season with other East Bay entrepreneurs and bioscience industry professionals.

Learn more and RSVP here.

RESOURCES & DEADLINES

Silicon Valley in Your Pocket (online virtual accelerator program)

The Silicon Valley in Your Pocket (SViYP) virtual acceleration program is the perfect complement to your startup, whether it is at the idea stage, has launched, or is somewhere in between. The eight-week program helps startups in key areas like incorporation, competitive analysis, go-to-market strategy, deal rooms and pitching. SViYP even tracks and report startups' "vital signs" for viability and investability.
 
Members of the Berkeley Startup Cluster community get 65% off - register here using the code BSC.

Apply for Saha's Global Leadership Program

Apply now to join Saha's next Global Leadership Program in Ghana. Saha works in rural Northern Region Ghana to set up entrepreneurial women with chlorinating businesses that provide clean water that all can afford. 

Applications are open and rolling. Learn more and apply here.

Apply now for Dorm Room Fund

Are you a student founder who wants to grow your startup? Apply now for Dorm Room Fund, a student-run venture fund that invests in startups where at least one person on the founding team is a student (undergraduate or graduate). 

Learn more and apply here.

BERKELEY ENTREPRENEURS MAKING NEWS

Berkeley Company Inyenyeri Aims to Eradicate Toxic Smoke

Throughout much of the developing world, cooking fires powered by coal and firewood produce toxic smoke that causes the premature death of close to 4 million people annually. Eric Reynolds of Inyenyeri hopes to change this with clean wood pellet burning stoves. 

Read more about Inyenyeri in The New York Times.

Predictum Uses Social Media to Assess Personality

Predictum is a new program that uses software to sift through a person’s tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos, and create a report about their personality. The founders - three former UC Berkeley students working out of SkyDeck - envision it being used to assess everyone from potential babysitters to Tinder dates. 

Read more about Predictum in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Startup "Perfect Day" Has Had a String of Perfect Days

Perfect Day Foods, the Berkeley-based startup that is far along the road to developing a cow-free milk, has recently been featured in Fortune magazine. Founders Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi were also named on Forbes' list of "30 Under 30 -- Social Entrepreneurs 2019".

SkyDeck's Demo Day Highlights Berkeley Startups

Launched in 2012 as a modest accelerator for student-run businesses, the Berkeley SkyDeck has flourished since its inception. To date, the program has mentored 300 startups, which have gone on to raise $800 million via 27 funding rounds and 10 acquisition deals. 

Learn more in TechCrunch about this years' cohort.

UC Berkeley Students Launch Venture Fund for Campus-Related Startups

A new student-led venture fund led by UC Berkeley students, Arrow Capital, has launched to help shepherd more early-stage investments in startups related to UC Berkeley. The team includes both undergraduate and graduate students, who plan not only to invest in startups, but also to work with the founders to grow their businesses and raise subsequent funding.

Learn more about Arrow Capital on the Berkeley Haas website.

Keep in Touch
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To submit information or questions on the Berkeley Startup Cluster, contact: oedmailbox@cityofberkeley.info

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