Intel® Liftoff Announces Partnership with Berkeley SkyDeck
Intel® Liftoff has announced its annual partnership with Berkeley SkyDeck, a leader in innovation in Silicon Valley and part of UC Berkeley. The partnership is between the successful Intel® Liftoff programme, which is open to early-stage AI and machine learning startups, and the leading global accelerator that offers programming, mentorship, and venture capital funding to further catapult startups into success.
The partnership will allow both organizations to further accelerate startups in the technology space by offering a breadth of resources and expertise. With world-class technical expertise and training, cutting-edge computing resources and SDKs, Intel® Liftoff is always actively seeking partnerships with like-minded accelerators in the ecosystem to further bolster its ability to assist more startups on their path to success, and SkyDeck is a natural fit given it has a proven track record of empowering early-stage businesses and founders.
Berkeley SkyDeck’s success
Berkeley SkyDeck has accelerated and incubated 1800+ startup companies since its inception in 2014. Furthermore, in 2024, UC Berkeley was named by Pitchbook as the #1 university in the world for venture-backed companies and founders with 1642 companies, exceeding the number of companies coming out of any other US or international university.
Since 2018, Berkeley SkyDeck has a partnership with the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, a private venture capital fund. In this time, SkyDeck’s cohort companies have raised almost $2B in funding, and dozens of SkyDeck-backed companies have a $100 million valuation.
As is true with Intel® Liftoff’s successes, SkyDeck has a variety of companies that have taken off, these include MindsDB, Deepscribe, Hayden AI, SkyLoom, and Loft.
“SkyDeck is a powerhouse accelerator for global startups and is open to companies from all over the globe. Our startups thrive once connected with our best-in-class Berkeley network and reach new heights once completing our program,” says Caroline Winnett, SkyDeck’s Executive Director.
There are four programs that SkyDeck offers startups, including the Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator cohort and SkyDeck Europe Milano cohort. SkyDeck’s Innovation Partner Program is for third parties (including companies and universities) to learn innovation for their internal teams, and the Pad-13 Incubator, which focuses on incubating companies affiliated with the University of California.
What the partnership offers
“SkyDeck is thrilled to partner with Intel Liftoff to empower our community to adopt Intel technology as well as to introduce Intel to some of the brightest entrepreneurs and the most innovative early-stage companies in the world,” says Taylor Marcus, SkyDeck’s Global Head of Business Development.
By partnering with Berkeley SkyDeck, Intel will gain visibility into the thousands of startup companies that apply to SkyDeck and join the selection committee with SkyDeck staff and trusted advisors. The Intel team will offer its expertise in various technologies to help select the most promising startups to join SkyDeck, which has a 1% acceptance rate. Additionally, Intel will participate in networking opportunities as well as lead educational conversations about its offerings with the startup companies. The partnership will also facilitate a concierge service and networking with the academic staff at UC Berkeley. Finally, Intel® Liftoff’s branding will be featured at SkyDeck’s Demo Day, which occurs two times per year.
“Intel® Liftoff was designed to help early-stage startups build, grow and scale faster and this partnership is part of our success path that is bolstered by industry and academic partnerships,” says Eugenie Wirz, Global Community Manager, Intel® Liftoff.
The partnership recently celebrated its first success with the Intel sponsored UC Berkeley’s AI Hackathon. The Intel Liftoff team collaborated with the Berkeley SkyDeck team to organize a meetup where students having a startup or interested in starting one were guided on how Intel’s technology can assist them advance in their entrepreneurial journey as well as how SkyDeck can help their startup gain important insights to become successful companies.
As a Software Tools Ecosystem Specialist at Intel, I’ve had the privilege of working on the dynamic GenAI initiative. My focus is on driving engagement with the software developer audience. I'm a proud team member of the Intel® Liftoff for Startups and the Developer Engagement, Relations, and Studio team.