The Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program supports a premier startup accelerator and competitions at Berkeley Haas:
LAUNCH: The University of California’s Startup Accelerator
LAUNCH is the marquee entrepreneurship event at UC Berkeley. Founded in 1999, it has become a leading Bay Area event and one of the nation’s top startup competitions. LAUNCH brings together entrepreneurs, students, and alumni from across the greater UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco communities. Each fall, entrants organize teams through sponsored networking events, classes, and on their own in order to submit brief executive summaries shortly after returning from the campus winter break in January.
Accepted competitors then refine their venture ideas and presentations, which are later judged by Bay Area venture capitalists to determine the semi-finalists, finalists, and ultimately, the Competition winners. Throughout it all, teams are matched with entrepreneurial mentors who provide guidance and help in iterating on their venture ideas.
The Venture Capital Investment Competition
VCIC is, in essence, a “reverse business plan competition.” Student teams assume the role of venture capitalists and evaluate and “fund” investment opportunities. Real entrepreneurs who are currently seeking funding present their startups to the VCIC teams, while the teams are judged by experienced venture capitalists.
The competition is open to all UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students interested in trying their hand at being a venture capitalist for a day. There is strong interest in the Competition each year, with an average of 30 teams applying to compete for just six spots. Winners of the UC Berkeley round go on to compete in the regional finals. The UC Berkeley team has won 1st place at regional finals both in 2016, 2018, and 2020. Regional winners progress to the national finals at the University of North Carolina, where a Haas team took 2nd place in 2018 and won the national title in 2005. VCIC ® is a trademark of the University of North Carolina.
UC Berkeley Hult Prize Competition
The Hult Prize is the world’s largest student startup competition. Through the annual competition, students build, scale, and pitch innovative startups, with the winning team receiving $1M USD in funding to take their business to the next level.