UC Berkeley's SkyDeck accelerator is pushing further into Japan, and deepening its international reach, through a formal partnership with a government-supported trade organization.
SkyDeck signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan External Trade Organization, commonly referred to as JETRO, and the organizations will work together to bring localized programming to Japan for startups in the country that are accepted into SkyDeck's accelerator.
Startups from Japan will still be invited, and encouraged, to visit Berkeley and access the accelerator's in-person programming here, as well.
SkyDeck also announced on Wednesday that it was partnering with six universities in Japan to create programming and further tap into Japan's innovation ecosystem. The six universities working with SkyDeck are Kyoto University, Nagoya University, Osaka University, The University of Tokyo, Tohoku University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
"We really like that many of the founders coming from Japan are from the universities, affiliated, bringing very serious research. They're PhDs, they're researchers, they're smart businesspeople who are looking to do something that really has some technical depth," SkyDeck's executive director Caroline Winnett told me.
The accelerator has worked with JETRO for a few years and the organizations have brought around five dozen companies from Japan to SkyDeck since 2021, including 29 companies that are currently participating in SkyDeck's various programs.
“From CRISPR to fiber-optic communication, Japan has a long history of innovation and invention, something we have in common with the United States. Collaborating with Berkeley SkyDeck has been exceptionally successful so far,” the Chief Executive Director of JETRO San Francisco Yotetsu Hayashi said in a statement. “Working together, I am sure we can continue to support groundbreaking new companies both here and in Japan alike.”
Exact timelines and other details are still being fleshed out, but Winnett expects to welcome the first batch of startups to join SkyDeck under the formal JETRO partnership next fall.
"Japan has a ton of deep tech talent," Winnett said, "so, most of the startups that we have in the program now and that we think we'll be working with are deep tech."
Last year, SkyDeck also expanded into Europe with a hub that opened in Milan.
The Milan hub runs a full range of programming for local startups that are accepted in Europe, and SkyDeck also raised a separate fund specifically for it.
SkyDeck isn't raising a dedicated fund for Japan, yet, but the programming it develops in Japan will complement the experience founders get in Berkeley.
"If at some point a permanent presence in Japan makes sense, we're very open to that," Winnett said.
Could we see more international hubs pop up in the future?
"Our long-term goal is to set up operations in areas that have tremendous talent and balance that with our mothership, Berkeley. We're finding that the world is big enough that there's opportunity for us to have these satellite locations," Winnett said. "We're really looking for, where's the talent? And where is there an ecosystem that is eager for our help to develop?"
