Applications Now Open!
UC LAUNCH Fall 2026
Application Deadline: Sunday, August 30th
Our accelerator is designed to support early-stage startups that have already validated their idea and achieved product-market fit, and are ready to scale rapidly. The application helps us understand your product, traction, team, and plans for the program.
Welcome
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Program Timeline
Xendit
2015 Cohort (Unicorn)
What role did your mentor play during the program? "My LAUNCH mentor became an investor. One of the UC LAUNCH judges became an investor too"
How has your team grown?
"We went from a founding team of 4 to now >600"
Advice for teams applying?
"Find great mentors who can help you through the journey. And programs are a great way of finding great advice"
Edvisor
Fall 2025 Cohort
"Our team has almost doubled since we were at UC LAUNCH. We are now 26 globally. It’s been very exciting!"
"The UC LAUNCH network, is very strong. Between the professors, mentors and entrepreneurship network, start ups can get a lot of help. Some of our earliest customers were because of warm intros made by the Berkeley community."
ABC's of Emotions
Spring 2025 Cohort
“My biggest learning from LAUNCH has been the power of clarity--clearly defining our customer, our value, and our MVP has helped sharpen our focus and build a solution that truly meets real needs"
Anchor Logics
Spring 2025 Cohort
"We were able to flush out a variety of strategies through interviews and research that make up our current business plan.
GetVisto
Spring 2025 Cohort
(Formerly LoveItAI)
"Relentlessly pursue shark bite problems--not just ideas that sound cool or get polite interest. We also learned the importance of not becoming a zombie startup--something that's alive on the outside but dead on the inside."
Our Mentors Say
"The ability to listen to a mentee's story and find the best way to be of assistance, whether it be life coaching, brainstorming, playing devil's advocate, problem solving or business planning"
Dr. Steven L. Horowitz
Co-Founder and Principal, Ovidian Group
The Founder Experience
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can apply to LAUNCH?
To apply to LAUNCH, companies must demonstrate product market-fit (sales, letters of intent, 100+ customer discovery interviews, etc.) and have at least one UC faculty, student or alum (full degree programs only) on the team.
My team is not based in Berkeley, can we still apply?
Yes, you can. As long as you have a UC student, faculty or alum on the team, you are eligible to apply to LAUNCH. We normally hold sessions every few weekends at Berkeley between January and April (spring cohort) or September and December (fall cohort). Since Spring 2020, all events are virtual.
What is the duration of the program?
We run two programs per year. The Fall and Spring cohorts comprise about 15-25 startups each.
Fall: Virtual sessions will be held on Wednesdays between Sept-Dec. Demo day in early December.
Spring: Virtual sessions will be held on Wednesdays between Feb-April. Demo day end of April.
3-5 Startups stand a chance to receive prize money at Demo Day.
Can we participate even if we already raised money?
Yes, as long as you haven't raised more than $1M in dilutive funding.
Do we need to attend the entire program?
Yes. In order to successfully complete the accelerator program, at least one member of the team must attend every session.
Can we participate in other UC Berkeley programs at the same time?
Berkeley students can NOT participate in UC LAUNCH and StEP Incubator or the Lean Launchpad class at the same time
Still have questions about UC LAUNCH?
Email us at launch@berkeley.edu