03 October 2025
Newsletter – October 1, 2025
| Berkeley SkyDeck’s Batch 20 Demo Day brought together 19 exceptional startups last week. Selected from a record-breaking 3,000 applications, each startup received a $200K investment from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund upon joining SkyDeck six months ago and is now supported by our network of expert advisors. They pitched their bold ideas, including AI, robotics, biotech, and more, to a packed audience of global investors at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. The celebration continued with Demo Night, where investors, alumni, and corporate partners gathered across Berkeley for exclusive networking events, including a fireside chat with Professor Ion Stoica, the cofounder of Databricks and Anyscale, on the future of open-source AI and research. Demo Day & Night reaffirmed SkyDeck’s mission to launch world-changing startups and underscores UC Berkeley’s ranking as the top university in the world for producing venture-backed companies. We send our gratitude to the Cal Band, violinist Alexi Kenney, UC Berkeley student volunteers, and our sponsors – SCB 10X, Synopsys Inc, Honda Xcelerator Ventures, Canon, AWS, FinStrat Management, Nebius, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Atlassian for Startups, and TechCrunch – for helping to make this milestone event possible. And a heartfelt thank-you to all who joined us in Berkeley, including UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons – your support is what makes the SkyDeck community so powerful. Check out The Daily Californian’s coverage here and learn more about the startups here. |
