Eighteen early-stage startups pitched their ideas Tuesday during UC Berkeley SkyDeck’s biannual demo day, capping the accelerator’s six month-long program that provides founders with $105,000 in funding and access to advisers and mentors.
Some founders presented from SkyDeck's facilities in-person but the event was broadcast virtually for the third time since March 2020. The accelerator, which touts an acceptance rate of 1.2%, is open to participants that have a connection to UC Berkeley or the larger UC system.
In the health space, founders presented ideas for rapidly and accurately diagnosing sports-related concussions right on the field, speeding up personalized cancer treatments, and creating early interventions for stroke patients. In new materials, startups pitched ideas for more efficient batteries and reducing plastic waste from containers like water bottles. One even showed off its plans for lower-cost, ultra-fast metal printing that could one day be utilized in space exploration.
Here are six of the most exciting startups we saw from the Pitch Day:
- BERKM is developing a new PET material with a clay additive that it says preserves structural integrity, increases shelf life, maintains clarity and reduces plastic use by 8% to 20%. The Philadelphia-based startup says its technology has the ability to revolutionize the $234 billion plastic packaging industry, while also keeping transparency of products and improving recyclability.
- Cancerfree is a Taiwanese startup that wants to use a patient’s own cancer cells to deliver personalized cancer treatments in order to reduce ineffective drug use. They’ll take a small sample to test different treatment options and plan on using AI to scale up. Initially the startup will focus on pancreatic cancer, sarcomas and brain tumors.
- CenSyn is a medical device company that has built a handheld stethoscope-like device to scan brain waves to diagnose sports-related concussions right on the field. The Irvine-based company says conventional methods miss 50% of concussions and its products can function within two minutes and track brain health for athletes throughout the season.
- Chemix is designing improved electric vehicle batteries that address safety, costs and range by using AI to speed up the research & development process, much like pharmaceutical drugs are developed. The Mountain View-based startup plans on partnering with vehicle manufacturers and battery producers. They say their efforts could make a car like Tesla’s Model 3 (which currently starts at nearly $40,000) even cheaper than a $25,000 Toyota Camry.
- Loxagen is developing a treatment that can be delivered within 72 hours of a stroke that can reduce the impacts of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, a a rare stroke that has one of the highest mortality rates in the U.S5. The Palo Alto-based startup say the approach could also be applied to other diseases and conditions in the future such as cancer and diabetes.
