Berkeley Innovators and Entrepreneurs recognized this month

Thursday, April 18, 5:00-7:00 pm
Fogo de Chao, 5633 Bay Street, Emeryville

Join the Berkeley Chamber at Fogo de Chao 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 food.

RSVP on Eventbrite. 

Wednesday, May 1, 4:00-7:00 pm
Blum Hall B100, UC Berkeley

Get a first-hand look at the next wave of groundbreaking social ventures! From tackling pressing social issues to revolutionizing industries, this year’s Big Ideas finalists exemplify creativity, dedication, and impact. Join them on May 1 to celebrate the 2024 BIGGEST Big Ideas and hear the top 5 teams pitch for the $20K Grand Prize. Food and refreshments will be served.

RSVP HERE.

Wednesday, May 15, 10:00 am-2:00 pm
The Forum, 750 Gateway Blvd., South San Francisco

Biocom California Institute invites Bay Area life science employers to the first-of-its-kind Life Science Career Expo. Tailored exclusively for Bay Area life science employers seeking top-tier talent, this event will include a dedicated job fair alongside engaging educational sessions thoughtfully curated for job seekers.

RSVP by April 30th. 

Deadline: April 12, 2024, 2pm PDT

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the Solutions for Lasting, Viable Energy Infrastructure Technologies (SOLVE IT) Prize is now accepting submissions.   

The SOLVE IT Prize will support communities as they identify and work to implement innovative clean energy solutions in a way that works best to address their unique needs and challenges. By empowering communities to solve their energy-related challenges, the SOLVE IT Prize looks to promote the commercialization of promising energy technologies in a way that will lead to an equitable and just energy transition.  

Solve the challenge here. 

Deadline: April 12, 2024

The WIES Program at the Innovative Genomics Institute is an exciting opportunity for researchers who are committed to addressing gender inequity in biotechnology and are driven to commercially develop solutions for some of the world’s greatest problems for the benefit of the public. The WIES one-year fellowship can you help you explore how to turn your research into a business with the exclusive opportunity to receive a no-strings donation of up to $1,000,000 directly from a donor.

Apply here. 

Deadline: April 16, 2024

The Cleantech Open (CTO) has trained over 3,750 entrepreneurs from 2,000 early-stage clean technology startups through its annual business accelerator. CTO alumni have raised over $1.8 billion equity, and in recent cohorts, 50% of founder CEOs self-identified as BIPOC and/or women.

Appy here. 

In efforts to support Earth Month and fight climate change, Berkeley-based startup Prime Roots is offering a 20% rebate for those who purchase their plant-based deli meat during the month of April. 

Claim your rebate today!

Looking for a state-of-the-art lab in Berkeley? Glyphic Biotechnologies is subleasing 5-15k square feet of newly renovated biotech laboratory and office space in Foundry 31 (in Southwest Berkeley, off San Pablo Blvd) with access to cutting-edge equipment, fume hoods, cold storage, conference rooms, a kitchen, and more.

Check out the space in Foundry 31, managed by Oxford Properties Group and listed by Innovation Properties Group, Inc.

On Wednesday, April 10, UC Berkeley's board of regents announced that the university’s 12th chancellor will be Rich Lyons, former dean of the Haas School of Business and the current leader of campus-wide Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiatives. A Berkeley Startup Cluster Advisor and Cal undergraduate alumni, Lyons has been a great supporter of the Berkeley innovation ecosystem and we look forward to continued partnership with him in his new role. 

Read more in the Berkeley News.

Congratulations to Berkeley startups Twelve (17th), Terabase Energy (51st), Harvest Thermal (55th), Perfect Day (61st), Prime Roots (115th), Ripple Foods (175th) for being named by TIME as one of America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2024. To determine the list of the top 250 companies reducing environmental impact, TIME partnered with Statista, to analyze data points such as value of the company's intellectual property portfolio, revenue and funding, and environmental data specific to each industry, such as carbon capture, offsets, and renewable energy generated.

Read more on TIME.com.

Congratulations to Umaro Foods (based at Bakar Labs in Berkeley) for raising a second funding round to bring its plant-based alternative to pork bacon to retail markets. The startup uses seaweed as the protein source.

Read more on The Fish Site.

Congratulations to Twelve for their incredible partnership with the International Airlines Group (IAG) to provide e-SAF, jet fuel that has up to 90% lower emissions than conventional jet fuel. This 14-year agreement will supply their power-to-liquid SAF (also known as eSAF) to IAG's five airlines including British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling Airlines and LEVEL Airlines.

Read more in ESG News. 

Berkeley headquartered Caribou Biosciences has issued a press release with reports of their Q4 and full 2023 financial results. They have reported that $372.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities will fund their current operating plan through at lease Q1 2026. In 2024 they plan for two clinical data releases to help patients with hematologic malignancies.

Read more from Caribou Biosciences.

Congratulations to the many Berkeley SkyDeck Batch 17 teams who gave fantastic pitches at Demo Day on Wednesday! Since 2012, Berkeley SkyDeck has hosted 10 companies that are now valued at over $100 million. It was great to see several teams with a deeper connection to Berkeley including Allos, AsparaGlue, Buck.AI, Pickaxe, and ReRx Therapeutics. 

View the list of companies that pitched at Demo Day here.

Congrats to the 147 Activate Fellow companies that have secured over $2B in follow-on funding, including recent awards from the US Department of Energy. Amazing that so many of these come from Berkeley and are connected to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Read more from Activate.

Experts at UC Berkeley are developing the Center for Healthcare Marketplace Innovation to translate cutting-edge artificial intelligence and behavioral economics healthcare research into powerful real-world advances in patient outcomes and drastically reduced medical costs. The partnership between the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society and the Haas School of Business will act as a force multiplier for top-tier technological innovation and economic insights. 

Read more from UC Berkeley.