UC Berkeley SkyDeck admits 20 global tech startups for its Batch 13 cohort

UC Berkeley SkyDeck, the startup accelerator of the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley), today announced it has selected 20 tech startup companies from across the globe for its Batch 13 startup cohort, with each receiving $105,000 funding along with other benefits over the course of the six-month program.

The new group of startups specializes in a wide range of industries including AI, healthtech, sustainable tech, robotics, and enterprise software. The acceptance rate for the new cohort was 1.5%.

Commenting on the Batch 13 cohort, Berkeley SkyDeck Executive Director  Caroline Winnett said, “On behalf of the entire SkyDeck community, we are thrilled to work with this fantastic group of global startups.” She added, “This group will be the first cohort back in our offices since the start of the pandemic and we can’t wait to collaborate in person once again for some of our programming and workshops. We will have both in-person and virtual programming during Batch 13 to offer the highest quality experience and support to help startups think bigger and bolder as they bring their game-changing ideas to life.”

In addition to startups from the United States, participating international startups come from eight countries including Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Russia, Singapore, and South Africa. This cohort will participate in a hybrid version of the program: most of the workshops will take place remotely with the opportunity to join in person for several weeks throughout the duration of the program. Cohort startups will also have the option to work in SkyDeck’s offices as a member of the Batch 13 cohort.

UC Berkeley is a hotbed of entrepreneurship, identified by Pitchbook in 2020 as the No. 1 public undergraduate program for producing startup founders that get venture funding. In 2019 SkyDeck was named in Forbes as a top-five U.S. university accelerator.

The Batch 13 accelerator Cohort startups receive a $105,000 investment from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund and access to 350 top advisors and mentors as they prepare to pitch more than 600 investors on Demo Day. In addition to the Cohort program, SkyDeck also hosts the Pad-13 incubator program with approximately 100 additional early-stage startups. The participants in the incubator also have access to events, mentors, and pitch opportunities to help them grow their innovative ideas and businesses.

The Batch 13 Accelerator program started Nov. 1, 2021. The Batch 13 Demo Day will take place on April 6, 2022.

Founded in 2012, Berkeley SkyDeck is UC Berkeley’s global startup accelerator that promotes high-tech entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. With Pitchbook ranking Berkeley alumni second to Stanford in producing venture capital-backed entrepreneurs, SkyDeck has become a top university incubator within the United States.

It was recently named in Forbes as a top-five U.S. university accelerator, SkyDeck combines hands-on mentorship with the vast resources of its research university. SkyDeck is the only accelerator that provides funding for its startups via a public-private partnership, providing returns directly back to UC Berkeley from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, a dedicated investment fund supported by top institutional VCs like Sequoia and Mayfield.

To date, SkyDeck startups have raised more than $1.47 billion in aggregate. Participating startups have access to SkyDeck’s 350 advisors, 50 industry partners, and a network of more than 510,000 UC Berkeley alumni.

Below is a video overview of 2021 SkyDeck Applications Webinar for Global Teams.

Below is a video overview of the UC Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator.