SkyDeck Newsletter

March 30, 2022

SkyDeck announces $60M Fund II

Chon Tang, Founding Partner of the SkyDeck Fund, delivering a speech at the last in-person Demo Day in 2020.

Last Thursday, Berkeley SkyDeck announced the closure of SkyDeck Fund II with $60M in commitments. Oversubscribed and three times larger than Fund I, Fund II highlights a diverse group of new and returning investors at the forefront of Silicon Valley’s innovation. The SkyDeck Fund also announced that it would now be investing $200K in each selected startup instead of $105K.

The SkyDeck Fund is Berkeley SkyDeck’s dedicated fund. Since its launch a decade ago, it has consistently performed in the top quintile of investment funds and supported founders in raising over $1.7 billion in funding. Learn more about the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund here.

SkyDeck Demo Day Around the Corner; Founders Fly In from Around the Globe

Batch-13 founders return to the SkyDeck office for final preparations leading up to Demo Day.

Berkeley SkyDeck’s Demo Day is just around the corner! With April 6th rapidly approaching, founders from 13 different countries flew in ahead of the event to meet with Executive Director Caroline Winnett and Senior Director Sibyl Chen.

SkyDeck’s Demo Day is the first of its Demo Days to be held in-person since the start of the pandemic and will feature 21 startups in a diverse range of industries: health and biotech, security, robotics, edtech, logistics, cleantech, enterprise software, green tech and more. All interested accredited investors are welcome to join in-person at Zellerbach Hall at Berkeley or via virtual livestream. Apply for an invite here.

Calling all UC Berkeley students looking for a summer internship!

Berkeley SkyDeck is hosting its virtual Summer Intern Fair on April 22nd! 90+ SkyDeck startups developing solutions for the future in the realms of AI, enterprise software, robotics, health, bioscience, and consumer solutions are looking for motivated and qualified Cal students. Register for the fair here today and find your summer internship!

SkyTeam News

Willow Labs
Willow Labs (Pad-13 Batch 13) has released the first version of Willow Studio, a complete wildfire simulation toolkit, in private preview. Drawing on its fast, accurate simulation technology, Studio unlocks the ability to understand fire growth patterns using current or worst-case weather conditions, choose between fuel treatment alternatives, and share results with colleagues in the field. Read more here.

AHEAD Medicine
AHEAD Medicine (Spring ‘20 Cohort) has been awarded with 1st stage Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program from Taiwan Ministry of Economics Affairs. The SBIR program supports small and medium-sized domestic enterprises to actively invest in innovative research and development to promote Taiwan's future economic growth.

Evitado Technologies
Evitado Technologies (Batch 12 Cohort) is excited to announce the signing up of 4 new users in the first quarter of this year. The traction follows the team making a key CCO hire of Hendrik Brand, an aerospace industry executive with 18 years of experience, and joining the Starburst Aerospace Program. To keep up with their recent traction growth, Evitado is raising another $250k pre-seed on SAFE notes ahead of a larger seed round to be launched in late Q2.

Action Face
Action Face (Fall 2020) took top prize and was declared the winner in the Entertainment, Gaming & Content category at the 14th annual SXSW Pitch held in Austin, Texas. The event featured 45 finalists within 9 distinct categories with more than 650 entries in all. "This is an incredible honor and we couldn't be happier with the outcome, particularly considering the many incredible companies that we were competing against," said Kenny Davis , CEO of Action Face. Read on here.

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