Berkeley Catalyst Fund (BCF)

Berkeley Catalyst Fund (BCF) is a venture capital fund that invests in startups connected to the University of California, Berkeley. It supports the wider startup community around the San Francisco Bay Area and works alongside the university, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC San Francisco, incubators, accelerators and alumni founders.

Products and services

• Seed and Series A investment: its main stages of focus.
• Life sciences backing: therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices.
• Biotechnology and agriculture: companies working in these fields.
• Cleantech: clean air, clean water and energy storage.
• Sensors: startups building sensing technology.

Customers and markets

The fund works with founders in the Berkeley and Bay Area research and entrepreneur community, including alumni and teams from associated incubators and accelerators.

Key facts

• Based in: San Francisco Bay Area, USA
• Structure: legal entities separate from the university, which has a contractual relationship with the fund
• Backer: the UC Berkeley Foundation is a special limited partner