Start Up Conveniently Close to Research Centers
When companies spin off from UC Berkeley or the Berkeley Lab, startups typically want to stay close to where their ideas were hatched. Enterprising students, post-docs, and professors appreciate locating in Berkeley where they can launch their ventures in close proximity to academic colleagues while enjoying a great quality of life -- and still find San Francisco and Silicon Valley only a short train ride away.
The City of Berkeley Office of Economic Development (OED) can help you find available commercial space in Berkeley and provide 1-1 assistance with the process. Contact OED for assistance.
Have Space Available in Berkeley?
We welcome listings for lab, office, retail, and flexible spaces that support startups and growing companies. Contact OED to share your listing with us.
Search for the Right Space for You
LoopNet: Berkeley Commercial Real Estate for Lease
Part of CoStar Group, the global leader helping customers to navigate the digital world of commercial real estate, LoopNet offers a powerful portfolio of commercial real estate listings for office, industrial, retail, businesses for sale, and more. You can sort by price, location, space use and more.
Website: www.loopnet.com/search/commercial-real-estate/berkeley-ca/for-lease/
Email:Help@LoopNet.com
Liquid Space
LiquidSpace is an online marketplace for renting office space, including coworking facilities. You can use LiquidSpace to quickly find the right space for your team in the Berkeley neighborhood that works for you, quickly scanning hundreds of spaces with pricing and availability, message the hosts, set-up tours, and book right away.
Website: www.liquidspace.com/
Email: support@liquidspace.com
Connect with Coworking Spaces & Incubators Directly
Is your startup seeking to share office space with like-minded innovators? Berkeley has many coworking spaces and incubators, including many with shared lab or R&D equipment.
Office Coworking spaces
The Office
The Office: Berkeley is a coworking space that offers authentic, meaningful networking connections with real community leaders who genuinely understand the nuts and bolts of how to get your idea built. Its team of founders, all Cal alums and serial entrepreneurs in the City of Berkeley, opened The Office in May 2017 with a goal to create an authentically local coworking space whose primary mission is to support the economic growth of individuals and businesses in their own community.
Address: 1935 Addison St, Berkeley, CA 94704
Website: www.theofficeberkeley.com
Email: info@theofficeberkeley.com
CoWorking with Wisdom at Dharma College
CoWorking With Wisdom is a workspace intended to provide members with an enhanced way of working where the space is a sanctuary for creating balance of wisdom and work. The workspace promotes: Caring for yourself and others, Openness to transformation, Harmony and Balance, Work as Wisdom, Community as an expression of human potential, Sharing new knowledge, Respect for all, and Doing good for others.
Address: 2222 Harold Way Berkeley, CA 94704
Website: www.coworkingwithwisdom.com
Email: wdixey@dharma-college.com
NextSpace
NextSpace Berkeley, Powered by Pacific Workplaces, supports students, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses in an innovative, collaborative environment. Located in the heart of downtown, NextSpace Berkeley offers memberships for private offices and dedicated desks, coworking passes for individual workstations, virtual office plans for mail services and live phone answering, and access to meeting rooms.
Address: 2081 Center St., Berkeley, CA
Website: pacificworkplaces.com/locations/berkeley-coworking-space/
Phone: (510) 990-0500
Email: berkeley@pacificworkplaces.com
Regus
Regus is the world’s largest provider of convenient, high-quality, fully serviced workspace. Whether you have a start-up or a Fortune 500 company, Downtown Berkeley Center is a bright, professional environment where you can stay focused on your business. This striking location puts you in the midst of Berkeley’s rich, vibrant culture. The University of California is less than one mile away with the city’s best restaurants, entertainment, and Downtown Berkeley BART station within walking distance. Regus Downtown Berkeley is a place where you can work confidently and conveniently in fully-equipped private or shared workspace.
Address: 2001 Addison Street, Suite 300, Berkeley, CA
Website: www.regus.com
Phone: (510) 679-6902
Email: berkeley.downtown@regus.com
WeWork
Just two blocks from Downtown Berkeley BART and around the corner from UC Berkeley's campus is WeWork, a platform for creators. They provide the space, community, and services you need to create your life's work. Large conference rooms, indoor bike storage, private phone booths, dedicated desks and privates offices up to 8 people.
Address: 2120 University Ave., Berkeley, CA
Website: www.wework.com
Phone: (646) 389-3922
Contact: https://www.wework.com/contact-us
Workstation West Berkeley
Workstation WB offers a variety of workspaces including daily and monthly memberships and more permanent desks and private office space. Workstation WB has a cozy work environment, high-speed Internet, printing services, access to private phone booths, complimentary coffee & tea, two conference rooms available to members and rentable by the hour, and a space for evening or weekend events shaped by the ideas of the members and the neighboring community.
Address: 2247 Sixth St. Berkeley, CA 94710 (corner of 6th & Bancroft)
Website: www.workstationwestberkeley.com
Email: workstationwb@gmail.com
Mothership HackerMoms
Mothership HackerMoms is a nonprofit creative life lab for mothers (broadly defined). We support women engaging in creative, career, and entrepreneurial endeavors with a variety of member-led groups, from book clubs to networking sessions to gallery events. Both members and nonmembers can join one of our ongoing Fail Clubs, a project launchpad group that supports participants as they articulate and implement their goals. Full members have 24-hour access to a comfortable and clean shared workspace in Berkeley's vibrant Lorin District.
Address: 3288 Adeline St, Berkeley, CA 94703
Website: www.hackermoms.org
Email: info@hackermoms.org
Coworking spaces with lab/ R&D facilities
Bakar Labs
Bakar Labs is UC Berkeley's flagship incubator supporting innovation in life sciences, energy, and materials. Operated by QB3, Bakar Labs provides extensive equipment, lab and office facilities, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs to help startups grow. Bakar Labs can support as many as 50 early-stage companies from around the world focused on translating innovations that promise to improve human and planetary health. No UC affiliation is required to join.
Address: 2630 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA
Website: bakarlabs.org
Contact: For information about how to join or form a partnership, visit bakarlabs.org and complete the "Get in Touch" form at the bottom of the page.
Energy & Biosciences Institute Entrepreneurial Business Incubator (EBI2)
Nestled in the heart of UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources, with convenient access to downtown Berkeley and public transportation, the Energy & Biosciences Institute’s Entrepreneurial Business Incubator (EBI2) has space available for lease by biological and chemical research companies. The space contains analytical instruments and equipment for chemical and biological applications such as fermenters, GCs, HPLCs, ICs, anaerobic chambers, a lyophilizer, and many more. Tenants also have access to EBI2 dedicated staff and undergraduate interns as well as a private meeting room. Applications are accepted year around with leasing terms starting at 1 year and bench space starting at $720/mo.
Website: www.energybiosciencesinstitute.com
Email: Yi Liu, EBI2 Manager at yiliu89@berkeley.edu
QB3 Garage@Stanley Hall
The QB3 Garage@Berkeley in Stanley Hall features approximately 800 square feet of wet laboratory space, set up with eight stations for incubator use.
Each station offers bench and desk space, and network connections. Resident companies also share use of a prep bench with standard lab facilities, along with space for floor-standing equipment such as a -80F and standard refrigerator and freezer, centrifuge, DI water, gases and some storage. The facility is best set up for molecular biology/biochemistry/cell biology and early-stage.
Resident companies also have access to QB3-Berkeley’s core research facilities.
Website: qb3.berkeley.edu/facilities/qb3-garage/
Email: Managing Director Donna Hendrix dkhendrix@berkeley.edu or complete the Space Inquiry Form on the website
Berkeley Research Infrastructure Commons (RIC)
The Berkeley Research Infrastructure Commons, or Berkeley RIC, is a group of UC Berkeley's core R&D facilities, startup incubator labs, and other resources that are available for shared use. Berkeley RIC facilities are available to industry users for commercial purposes under commercial rate structures and business-friendly intellectual property terms.
Website: ric.berkeley.edu
Email: ric@berkeley.edu
See more about the Berkeley business incubators and accelerators that provide office space, programs and resources to startups on the Resources page.
Background Photo at the top of the page provided by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. © 2010 The Regents of the University of California, through the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory