Making Berkeley a more vibrant, accessible and equitable place for startups to launch and grow.

Objectives

Information: Provide local innovators with information about resources and opportunities.

Marketing: Showcase Berkeley as a place for startups to launch and grow.

Real Estate: Increase high quality commercial real estate & wet lab space.

Diversity & Inclusion: Increase innovation sector diversity and community engagement.

Events: Improve the number and quality of events & networks for Berkeley entrepreneurs.

Infrastructure: Develop local infrastructure to meet the needs of the innovation sector.

Policy: Align city policy to support local innovation and startup growth.

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Berkeley Startup Map & City-Wide Innovation Hubs

This map of Berkeley-based startups and innovation companies has been updated with the latest data! (from Q4 2022) Companies are color coded by industry and shown by address and City Council district. The most significant concentrations of innovation activity are found on the UC Berkeley campus, in Downtown Berkeley, and in West Berkeley, with software and biotech companies comprising the greatest share.

Check out the map and let us know if we are missing a Berkeley startup.

The Berkeley Business Environment

A mid-sized city of 120,000, Berkeley punches above its weight when it comes to the diversity and vibrancy of its business community. Home to one of the world’s top public universities (UC Berkeley) and the nation’s oldest federal research laboratory (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab), Berkeley institutions enable people with ideas to launch innovative companies, create high-quality jobs and generate technologies with a global impact.

Berkeley is also connected by BART and the Bay Bridge to San Francisco, and approximately an hour’s drive from Silicon Valley’s globally recognized technology hub. Additionally, the city has many connections to other parts of California and global destinations through its rail transportation networks and proximity to two international airports and the Port of Oakland.

Entrepreneurs with an independent spirit, progressive values, and a focus on quality find Berkeley to be a natural home.

Thinking about starting a business in Berkeley?

Read the City of Berkeley’s Business Resource Guide to chart your path forward.

Read it Here

Berkeley Ventures, Berkeley Values

The Berkeley Ventures, Berkeley Values (BV²) initiative works with Berkeley companies that want to actively engage in our community and are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

For more background, see the Give Back page of our website, read about the BV² Pitch Competition in this Berkeleyside #Discovered in Berkeley article and follow BV² on LinkedIn.