Berkeley SkyDeck Fund Research
Investment Thesis
The Berkeley SkyDeck Fund is the venture fund attached to Berkeley SkyDeck, the UC Berkeley accelerator formed as a partnership between the Haas School of Business, the College of Engineering, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. The fund's stated thesis is that academic founders are brilliant, energetic, and a source of innovation that will fundamentally change our lives, and that science has no territorial boundaries, so the fund looks to enable change globally. Practically, the fund is a feeder: it invests in companies that pass through the SkyDeck cohort program and then follows selected companies into later rounds.
Fund Structure and Size
The firm's website states $85M under management. The fund donates 50% of its carried interest to UC Berkeley, which makes it unusual among accelerator funds. Press from 2018 described an earlier $24M fund, and a later Fund II closed with about $60M in commitments, so the current figure reflects several vehicles. Co-investors named on the site include Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Mayfield, CRV, Blueyard Capital, Point Nine, OpenOcean, Octopus Ventures, First Round Capital, and Vertex Ventures.
Stage Focus
The core activity is pre-seed and seed investing at the accelerator stage. Roughly 20 startups are selected per six-month cohort. The fund also participates in later rounds of Berkeley-linked companies; SkyDeck program materials say the fund can invest up to 10% of a company's first institutional round.
Check Size
Current SkyDeck program pages state that the fund invests $210,000 for 7.5% of each cohort company, usually as a post-money SAFE. Earlier materials cite $200K for 7.25% to 7.5%. Follow-on checks are variable and not disclosed on the site. The fund has described itself as having made 130+ investments in its first three years, and the website says partner Brian Bordley alone has completed over 300 early-stage investments.
Lead Tendency
The fund writes the standard cohort check into every accepted company, which makes it effectively a first-money investor, but it does not typically lead priced rounds. Its stated co-investor list is made up of larger institutional funds that lead subsequent rounds, so the role is closer to a follower or co-investor in later rounds. Confidence is moderate.
Recent Activity
The fund is actively deploying: the SkyDeck application page shows a cohort application window of September 8 to October 5, 2026, with roughly 20 companies selected per cohort. Third-party directories list recent additions such as Concha Labs, Pickaxe, Gisens Biotech, Socialtrait, and Accountstory; these were not confirmed on the firm's own site and are not included in the structured portfolio. No dated, source-backed announcements were captured for the activity feed.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists highlights rather than a full list:
- ThinkCyte (Fall 2018): image-based cell sorting, $15M raised since SkyDeck
- Skyloom (Fall 2018): optical space-to-Earth communications
- Krisp (Spring 2018): AI noise cancellation, $10M+ raised
- Chameleon Biosciences (Fall 2018): gene therapy, $15M+ raised
- Tatum (Fall 2020): blockchain developer infrastructure, $40M+ raised
- SiFive: open-source semiconductor technology, listed as a unicorn
- Ambi Robotics (Spring 2019): supply chain automation hardware, $32M raised
- MindsDB (Spring 2018): open-source machine learning platform, $50M+ raised
- DeepScribe (Spring 2018): medical note transcription, $30M+ raised
- Coreshell Technologies (Fall 2019): battery performance for the auto industry
- IOTA: nano-tech biotechnology, acquired for $300M
- Prophecy and Kepler Communications also appear on the page but their logos had no readable caption, so they are not in the structured list.
The mix is deep tech and science heavy: biotech, semiconductors, robotics, space, climate and battery, plus AI and developer infrastructure.
Team
- Chon Tang, Founding & General Partner: Silicon Valley engineer, entrepreneur and investor. Former founding partner and Managing Director of Junzi Capital Engineering, a quantitative commodities hedge fund. Has invested in startups for 12 years with 25+ personal deals. Berkeley BS EECS, MIT SM EECS.
- Brian Bordley, Partner: operator turned investor with experience in gaming, manufacturing, fintech, AI and enterprise software. 300+ early-stage investments at the fund. Berkeley alumnus.
- Sanjay Velappan, Principal: Haas MBA, previously Foundation Capital, Deloitte and Simon-Kucher & Partners.
- Grace Clendenin, Platform Associate: Haas undergrad, former SkyDeck incubator founder, PwC audit intern.
Decision Process
The fund runs a partnership model with Chon Tang and Brian Bordley as the main decision makers, feeding off the SkyDeck cohort selection process. The cohort application is the primary intake channel, and warm introductions are not required for that path.
Founder Preferences
The fund favors academic and research-driven founders, particularly those connected to UC Berkeley, and explicitly welcomes international founders. SkyDeck also runs a Global Founders Program for non-US founders who want to relocate to Silicon Valley.
Geographic Focus
Bay Area centered through Berkeley, with a global founder base. The firm states it looks forward to enabling change globally. Address: 2150 Shattuck Ave. PH 1300, Berkeley, CA 94704.