Startup Stories

Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Labs: First Berkeley Startup

Company founded: 1952

Founders: Alice Schwartz (UC Berkeley Bachelors Degree, biochemistry), David Schwartz (UC Berkeley Bachelors Degree, chemistry)

Bio-Rad Laboratories is among UC Berkeley’s first successful spinout companies, and it’s still thriving as of 2025. It was founded by two UC Berkeley undergraduate alumni, Alice and David Schwartz, who both received chemistry degrees. After graduating, they married and cofounded Bio-Rad in 1952. The name Bio-Rad comes from the words biochemicals and...

We Care Solar

We Care Solar: The Power To Save Lives

Company founded: 2010

Founders: Laura Stachel (UC Berkeley Master of Public Health, 2006, Doctor of Public Health, 2020), Hal Aronson, Gigi Goldman

Thousands of maternal health-care providers struggle to administer life-saving care in health centers that lack electricity. Like UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumnae Dr. Laura Stachel, those caregivers were trained to partake in one of the most meaningful experiences of human life—childbirth. And like Stachel, those caregivers are all too...

4D Molecular Therapeutics

4D Molecular Therapeutics: Delivering Gene Therapy Cures

Company founded: 2013

Founders: UC Berkeley Professor David Schaffer, David Kirn (UC Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts, 1985, Physiology & Physical Anthropology), Melissa Kotterman (UC Berkeley, Ph.D., 2013, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), Theresa Janke

David Schaffer is a UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and molecular and cell biology. He is an inventor on more than fifty patents and a serial entrepreneur, having cofounded eight...

Metaps

Company founded: 2011

Founders: Yuichiro Yamazaki (UC Berkeley BA, 2006, Interdisciplinary Studies Field)

My entrepreneurial journey began at UC Berkeley, where I was inspired by the university’s vibrant startup culture and open exchange of ideas across disciplines. While studying there, I collaborated with several classmates to launch a social networking service startup, called Campus Friend, at the dawn of the social media era. The project gained early traction—thanks in part to UC Berkeley’s supportive ecosystem that included...

Seahorse Rent a Car

Seahorse Rent a Car

Company founded: 2021

Founder: Eric Zhevel (UC Berkeley BA, Data Science, 2019)

Here at UC Berkeley I met many well-traveled and adventurous people who introduced me to new cultures and places. One of them was a kitesurfing community in Baja California Sur, Mexico, called La Ventana.

After graduating, I finally planned a trip to La Ventana and had the time of my life—it was a dream come true. I happened to be there when the pandemic started, and like many other foreigners, I chose to stay.

At the time, there...

Ondorse

Company founded: 2021

Founders: Aymeric Boëlle (Berkeley Law, LLM, 2011), Florent Robert

I founded Ondorse in 2021, with the mission to modernize how companies onboard and verify their clients, unifying compliance, efficiency, and user experience. The Paris-based company's innovative, all-in-one, AI-driven platform is designed to ensure financial and other institutions can efficiently assess the level of fraud and money laundering risk associated with a particular customer and meet regulatory challenges while reducing operational costs...

Turing Space

Turing Space: Ideated, Incubated, and Launched Out of UC Berkeley

Company founded: 2020

Founders: Yao-Chieh HU (Jeff) (UC Berkeley Master of Engineering 2020, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research - FinTech), Henry Hang

As of 2025, Turing Space is a global digital identity company that has completed a successful Series A funding round and has expanded to offices across four countries. The company traces its beginnings to UC Berkeley’s supportive ecosystem, and in particular UC Berkeley Law Executive Education, whose early...

Zephyrus Biosciences

Zephyrus Biosciences: Leading the Commercializing Process Yourself

Company founded: 2013

Founders: UC Berkeley Professor Amy Herr, Kelly Gardner (UC Berkeley, Ph.D., 2012, Bioengineering), Josh Molho, Douglas Crawford

As a UC Berkeley bioengineering professor, Amy E. Herr sees creating startups as an essential part of being a scientist in the twenty-first century. “We don’t confine ourselves to the lab,” she says. “Our goal is to ultimately improve people’s lives, so we work to ensure that the technology gets into the hands of the...

SuitX

SuitX: From Sitting in a Wheelchair to Walking in an Exoskeleton

Company founded: 2011

Founders: UC Berkeley Professor Homayoon Kazerooni, Michael McKinley (UC Berkeley Master's degree, 2012, Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D., 2014, Mechanical Engineering), Wayne Tung (UC Berkeley Bachelor's degree, 2008, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science Engineering, Master's degree, 2009, Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D., 2013, Mechanical Engineering), Minerva Pillai (UC Berkeley Bachelor's degree, 2007, Mechanical Engineering, Master's degree, 2010, Mechanical...

Mosaic Materials

Mosaic Materials: Novel Materials for Carbon Capture

Company founded: 2015

Founders: Tom McDonald (UC Berkeley, Ph.D. 2015, Chemistry), Steven Kaye (UC Berkeley, Ph.D. 2007, Chemistry), UC Berkeley Professor Jeffrey Long

While completing his PhD at UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry, Tom McDonald had planned to become a professor.1 He even had a postdoc position lined up at Imperial College London and had told his landlord that he was moving to the UK. But then, McDonald’s PhD advisor, Professor Jeffrey Long, and...