SkyDeck, the startup accelerator run by University of California (UC), Berkeley, closed an oversubscribed $24m fund on Friday with capital from limited partners including e- commerce group Alibaba, Axios reported.
Venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Mayfair Venture Capital supplied capital along with assorted alumni that participated through various investment vehicles. The fund had an original target size of $10m, according to Axios.
Berkeley SkyDeck Fund has an exclusive license with the university to invest in SkyDeck’s accelerator participants. It emerged with a portfolio of 16 companies, all of which are members of the current Skydeck cohort, and each received $100,000 in return for a 5% equity stake.
The fund will donate half of its profit back to UC Berkeley to support research, education and entrepreneurship. It is led by former hedge fund manager Chon Tang as its founding partner.
SkyDeck was formed as a partnership between the university’s Haas School of Business, the College of Engineering and its Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research to drive the commercialisation of research at the institution.
Caroline Winnett, executive director of SkyDeck, said: “UC Berkeley always looks to serve the greater good and SkyDeck is supporting startups that are solving the world’s biggest problems.
“The fund brings more startups, investors and innovation to Berkeley, because they can see that the university is enthusiastically supporting entrepreneurs.”
The 16 inaugural portfolio companies include background noise removal technology developer 2Hz, DNA-based personalised app platform Awakens, virtual drug discovery platform BioXplor and Bitbutter, which allows cryptocurrency features to be integrated into fintech products.
Printed electronics manufacturing startup InkSpace Imaging, machine learning services platform Intento, food delivery robot developer Kiwi Campus and Keyword Hero, a data science company that integrates organic keywords into Google Analytics, will also receive funding.
The batch also includes infant monitoring system developer May & Meadow, predictive data startup MindsDB, genetically engineered therapeutics platform Nextbiotics, artificially intelligent sales technology producer Orca and animal health technology startup Peregrine Biotechnology.
Earthquake prediction startup SkyAlert, gastrointestinal, pancreatic and neuroendocrine cancer treatment developer Sublime Therapeutics and high-density graphene supercapacitor developer Super Carbon rounded out the portfolio companies.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.