Partnership now welcomes Berkeley alumni and idea-stage ventures, reinforcing commitment to supporting AI innovation without requiring founders to choose between education and entrepreneurship

Berkeley SkyDeck, the global hub for entrepreneurship and leading accelerator, along with UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), announced the second year of its partnership with Mayfield to support AI-focused student and alumni entrepreneurs. Building on the success of its inaugural year, the Mayfield AI Garage now expands eligibility to include Berkeley alumni who graduated after 2022 and welcomes founders at the idea stage, making it easier than ever for aspiring entrepreneurs to transform their AI concepts into companies.

The program offers a distinctive approach to early-stage support, providing non-dilutive funding through stipends of $25,000 per founding team member (up to $50,000 per team) without taking equity or a position on the cap table. This structure enables participants to pursue entrepreneurship while maintaining full ownership of their ventures. The initiative also enables students to explore entrepreneurship without having to choose between completing their degree and building what’s next in AI. 

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“Mayfield has a proven track record of helping transform breakthrough ideas into iconic companies by investing in people first and meeting founders at the inception stage,” said Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield. “We’re excited to build on the Mayfield AI Garage’s successful first year with students, and expand to Berkeley alumni who are building the future of AI.” 

The program reflects a distinctive partnership model between venture capital and a public research university, one that prioritizes student access, non-dilutive support, and long-term founder development over traditional early-stage investment structures.

“We’re seeing incredible AI innovation from our Berkeley community, and the Mayfield AI Garage gives students and young alumni the runway to develop their ideas without the pressure to compromise their education or give up ownership of their vision,” said Caroline Winnett, Executive Director of Berkeley SkyDeck. “We’re excited to provide students and recent alumni a serious pathway to pursue entrepreneurship in a way that works for them.”

The 2026 cohort will provide four winning teams – two undergraduate teams and two teams from Berkeley’s AI research labs – with comprehensive support including admittance to Berkeley SkyDeck’s highly competitive Pad-13 incubator program, acceptance into NVIDIA’s Inception program for startups, up to $350,000 in compute credits from Microsoft Azure, legal support from Orrick up to $25,000, and direct mentorship from Mayfield’s team.

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“The inaugural year of this partnership proved remarkably successful and provided our students with access to critical elements of entrepreneurship, including access to mentorship, compute, capital, and – most importantly – to belief,” said Jennifer Chayes, dean of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. “By lowering the barriers to entry, we’re empowering more students to test ideas, form teams, and build responsibly at the intersection of AI, science, and society.”

The 2026 program is open to current UC Berkeley students and alumni who graduated within the past three years. Applications opened today and selected teams will be announced in April. The program will run from May through November 2026.  

Berkeley SkyDeck is a leading accelerator and the global hub for entrepreneurship. As UC Berkeley’s largest and most prominent accelerator, SkyDeck combines hands-on mentorship with the vast resources of its research university. SkyDeck is the only accelerator of its kind that offers the value of a dedicated investment fund alongside the resources and network of a top university. To date, SkyDeck startups have raised more than $2.7 billion in aggregate. Participating startups have access to SkyDeck’s 900 advisors, 70 industry partners, and a network of more than 613,000 UC Berkeley alumni. 

Mayfield partners with founders from day zero who see limitless possibilities where others see constraints. Drawing on our 55-year legacy of company building and people-first philosophy, we bring founder-to-founder expertise because we’ve built and scaled companies ourselves. We don’t just write checks – founders say our unwavering commitment sets us apart. We’ve celebrated over 120 IPOs and 225+ acquisitions, including breakthrough companies like HashiCorp, Lyft, Mammoth BioSciences, Marketo, Nuvia, Poshmark, ServiceMax, and SolarCity. From our Silicon Valley home, with $3 billion in assets under management, Mayfield is more excited than ever to back founders building the AI future where potential knows no bounds.

The UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) creates accessible and equitable educational opportunities and catalyzes groundbreaking research to meet society’s greatest challenges. This new college is reimagining inclusive collaboration to tackle the technical, scientific, social, and human dimensions of urgent challenges in health and biomedicine, climate and sustainability, and more. CDSS considers critically the profound impacts of data and computing in a rapidly evolving digital world. 

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FAQs

1. Why is Berkeley expanding the program to include idea-stage founders?

Many student entrepreneurs don’t yet have a fully formed startup when they begin. Opening eligibility earlier helps more people test AI ideas before committing full-time.

2. What does “non-dilutive funding” actually mean for student founders?

It means teams receive stipend support without giving away equity, so founders keep full ownership while still getting early financial runway.

3. How does this program fit alongside completing a UC Berkeley degree?

The initiative is designed so students don’t have to choose between finishing school and exploring entrepreneurship at the same time.

4. What types of AI projects or ventures are likely to be accepted?

The focus is broadly on AI innovation, especially work emerging from student teams or Berkeley research labs, including applications in science, society, and workforce development.

5. How is this partnership between a VC firm and a public university different from traditional startup funding?

Instead of investing for equity returns immediately, the model emphasizes early founder development, mentorship, and support structures within a university ecosystem.

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