Free Ventures

Free Ventures is UC Berkeley's leading pre-seed startup incubator, crafting highly individualized paths for founders across industries and academic backgrounds in a 3-month program. As the university's only nonprofit program run by students, for students, we aren’t pressed for returns or exits. Instead, we spend our full time cultivating relationships with top undergraduate and graduate student groups, and curate a support network of top venture capitalists, resource partners, founders, and thought leaders from the Valley for our portfolio. In doing so, we make entrepreneurship accessible to Berkeley students of all backgrounds by empowering them with the support to innovate and build. Over 11 years, we've helped 100+ portfolio companies raise $200M+ in follow-on capital from Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Greylock, and more. We've had multiple YC exits & acquisitions by companies like Coinbase, Discord, and Opendoor. Visit to learn more and follow us on Twitter @freeventures.