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The House Fund , the pre - seed and former - stage speculation capital fund focus on UC Berkeley startups , specifically AI startups , today announced that it has closed its third tranche — Fund III — at $ 115 million .
With the close of Fund III , Ken Goldberg , the UC Berkeley professor and fertile roboticist , will bring together The House Fund as a part - time mate , articulate Jeremy Fiance , the managing pardner at The House Fund , in an e-mail audience with TechCrunch .
“ We ’re call The House Fund because we ’re the home for the Berkeley startup community of interests , ” Fiance enjoin . “ We support Berkeley people in their entrepreneurial journeying , whether that ’s join inauguration , start startups , advising them , providing feedback on their theme well before any inauguration materializes and so much more . ”
Fund III will endue in Berkeley - affiliated AI startup — whether founded by alumni , faculty , Ph.D. candidate , postdoctoral and grad students , recent graduates , undergraduates or dropouts .
Roughly 70 % of Fund III will go toward startups at the pre - seed stage , Fiance says . But The House Fund will also lead , co - lead and enter in seed rounds and “ turn over ” a “ small identification number ” of first - round Series A rounds with father who ’ve had previous exits worth $ 500 million to over $ 1 billion .
“ We write first check up to $ 2 million and reserve for follow - ons , ” Fiance added . “ We can write a check as humble as $ 100,000 in a recently graduate beginner or dropout and are all right being the only investor , for example . ”
The House Fund , launched in 2016 , claims to be the “ first - ever investment firm ” sharpen on Berkeley startup and the only investment company backed by both the University of California System Endowment and UC Berkeley ’s campus endowment .
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The House Fund currently has $ 330 million under management and more than 100 stock have surveil - on invested in its startup , Fiance aver . ( The VC business firm ’s first investment trust was $ 6 million , and its second monetary fund , closed in late 2019 , was $ 44 million.)Notable investments from The House Fund ’s former pecuniary resource includeAnyscale , a company building a framework for parcel out compute projects ; software development platformCrowdbotics ; and Goldberg’sAmbi Robotics .
“ There ’s close to 600,000 Berkeley people — among the bounteous alumni bases in the domain , ” Fiance said . “ And there ’s been a longstanding ask from most alumnus for more accessible community engagement and frictionless way to unlock from Berkeley as an alum . As a grownup public school , Berkeley historically has n’t had the resource to forgather this requirement . So we took matters into our own hands in service to our community … We exist to meet the needs of entrepreneurs , curating comprehensive resourcefulness for Berkeley AI founder and create the connected environment startup need to thrive . ”
startup that receive backing from The House Fund get access to technical school from the VC firm ’s partner , mentorship from The House Fund ’s LP and advisors , access to natural endowment from the Berkeley campus and alumni base and innovation to likely customer with Berkeley relationships .
