how to win R&D grants and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals

Join Biocom California for a discussion with City of Berkeley regulators that monitor life science facilities, including hazardous waste disposal, fire preparedness, and site safety. 

Register today!

Join UC Berkeley Big Ideas to hear from Copia Founder, Komal Ahmad, on learn how advance your startup. Following the keynote speaker, students and student teams will be provided with opportunities to advance their ideas and ventures through two-minute pitches on stage to receive feedback, recruit new team members, and more!

RSVP today.

Workshop on Tuesday, November 14 // B120 Blum Hall at UC Berkeley
Big Ideas applications due December 6

Learn fundamental social entrepreneurship skills and access critical resources to develop a strong and compelling Big Ideas application. Join their final workshop (11/14) to learn about Storytelling for Social Impact.

RSVP here or contact bigideas@berkeley.edu to learn more.

Join the Berkeley Chamber at Pizza Twist for a cool, fun & inspiring event to unwind after your long workday. Mingle with other members of the business community while enjoying refreshing beverages and delicious snacks.

RSVP on Eventbrite. 

The California Test Bed (CalTestBed) Initiative provides entrepreneurs with vouchers worth up to $300K for third-party testing of their technologies at one of more than 70 testbeds across Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and eight University of California campuses. Since 2019, CalTestBed has supported three cohorts of 56 companies driving innovation in the global clean-energy economy.

Apply here. 

UC Berkeley is a leader in entrepreneurship with a long legacy of finding solutions for society’s greatest challenges, creating groundbreaking products and spurring social change that improves the world. With an unparalleled ecosystem of support along with access to deep resources and successful alumni mentorship, UC Berkeley is the top university in the number of venture-funded startups founded by undergraduate alumni.

Learn more here. 

Actym Therapeutics, a Berkeley biotech company based at Bonneville Labs, is betting that its engineered bacteria can use the space around tumors to drive the immune system to defeat cancer. They have raised an additional $25.5 million — topping out a $59.5 million Series A round — to move its cancer immunotherapy into its first clinical trial in the first half of next year.

Read more in the San Francisco Business Times. 

Harvest Thermal, a Berkeley startup that's developing a smart panel to help homeowners make their heat pumps operate more efficiently has raised fresh funding. They have raised a $4 million round, which brings its total funding to around $11 million.

Read more in Bay Area Inno. 

Pow.bio, currently based at Cell Valley Labs in Berkeley, has raised a $9.5 million series A round. The company promises to change the economics of precision fermentation by enabling a continuous process whereby their bioreactors will have less down time, thereby saving money for their synthetic biology company customers and decreasing the amount of water and power used in the fermentation process. They plan to build a demonstration platform at 1,000-liters for the high efficiency outputs they’ve demonstrated at 30 liters and 300 liters.

Pow.bio also led a STEM CareerX tour last month where Berkeley High School students heard from Silas Burdick, Pow's Head of Fermentation, how "Safety is the company’s number 1 priority."

Read more about Pow.bio in AgFunderNews.

Berkeley-based carbon transformation startup, Twelve, has earned a spot on the 2023 North America Climate Tech 200 list by Honlon IQ that is focused on identifying young, fast growing and innovative climate tech startups in Canada and the United States. The company also featured in MIT Technology Review's inaugural 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch list.

Meanwhile, Novel Farms announced a $1M SBIR grant award to support its platform, which leverages a novel microbial fermentation approach and tissue engineering techniques to significantly reduce the costs associated with cultivated meat.  Co-Founders Michelle Lu and Nieves Martinez Marshall were awarded a Breakthrough Energy fellowship. 

Both companies have received support as fellows with Activate Berkeley.

Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator + accelerator focused on semiconductor solutions, has unveiled a new partnership agreement with The Batchery, a Berkeley-founded global accelerator comprising 40 co-owners/accredited investors, offering an intensive three-month mentoring program to early-stage entrepreneurial teams. Under this agreement, the two organizations will align their programs to deliver complementary training, advisory services, and funding support to silicon start-ups building and commercializing transformative solutions in healthcare, telecommunications, advanced computing, connected transportation, and smart energy.

Read more in the Electric Engineering Journal. 

Bolt Threads, a pioneer in sustainable biomaterials for consumer products, announced a definitive agreement for a business combination with Golden Arrow Merger Corp that would result in Bolt Threads becoming a public company, after pausing Berkeley operations for its leather alternative, Mylo earlier this year. Upon the transaction's closing, the combined company will be named “Bolt Projects Holdings, Inc.”. Bolt Threads Founder and CEO Dan Widmaier will lead the combined company.

Their R&D, office and advanced manufacturing spaces at theLab Berkeley (2222 Fifth Street and 2233 Fourth Street) are available for lease.

Read more on Business Wire or contact Cresa for more details on the R&D spaces available for sublease.