Review on Berkeley SkyDeck Fund by Olugbenga Ajayi
Berkeley skydeck fund is a leader among academic accelerator
Berkeley skydeck fund is an academic accelerator. It is in partnership with UC Berkeleys skydeck accelerator programme which is made up of Haas school of business, college of engineering and office of the Vice Chancellor for research. This makes the Berkeley skydeck fund an academic, University backed accelerator which is interested in funding all academic research from fields like sciences, engineering, biosciences etc and building these into marketable business which in return equiped graduates and researchers to become successful entrepreneurs
Being an academic accelerator will help in providing incentives and encouragement for quality and standard academic research. The form of mentorship provided includes a fund of $100,000, introduction to high profile investors and connection to the community of founders in similar field.
One information i find very impressive on their website is that they are not bound by geographical location and they are open to start ups from accross the globe. I also love the fact that the programs is virtual.
Furthermore, I also find the information on their website very detailed and convincing and the positive comments coming from their past startups are encouraging.
Pros
- It is backed by a team of professionals in fund management
- It has successfully mentored above a hundred startups
- i love the encouragement given to qualify academic research through their academic accelerator programme
- it is well represented on the social media
- There are lots of positive comment about them online
Cons
- Being an academic accelerator may hinder other non academic founders to access the programme
