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The Venture Codex

California Innovation Fund

2933 Hillegass Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94705, United States

Overview

The California Innovation Fund provides venture funding and the backing of a strong community of UC alumni and faculty. As entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and friends, we do everything we can to help ground-breaking entrepreneurs succeed. We fuel the education of the next generation of entrepreneurs by re-investing 50% of our profit into the public University of California system. Financial investment is just one aspect of our commitment to startups. The California Innovation Fund community includes successful entrepreneurs, experienced C-suite leaders, UC faculty and subject matter experts all with a passion for helping UC affiliated startups succeed. We focus on industry agnostic early-stage startups looking to raise late seed/Series A rounds of finance. We will invest between $250K and $1 million with reserves for follow-on investment. We will support UC affiliated entrepreneurs who are solving significant, urgent problems that will create a positive future and better the public good.

Total investments
4
Lead investments
0
Investments · 12mo
2
Active investors
0
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Investment portfolio

  • Prosper Medical

    Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

    Prosper Medical operates an AI-enabled concierge primary care platform that aggregates patient health data, maintains continuity across interactions, coordinates care, and augments physician workflows with an AI care layer. Founded by Ryan McQuaid and Dr. James Wantuck (the founders of PlushCare), the company aims to deliver a personalized physician relationship at scale. Prosper is available to patients in all 50 states and is in-network with many major insurance plans. In its first months of operation the company has grown to serve thousands of members. Leadership frames the product as augmenting, not replacing, clinicians—combining Prosper AI, a Care Concierge Team, and doctors who arrive with patient context. The company plans to use recent financing to expand its physician network, further develop its AI platform, and accelerate market expansion.

  • TransCrypts

    Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

    Founded in 2020 by Zain Zaidi and Ali Zaheer, TransCrypts offers a centralized, blockchain-enabled SaaS platform for background checks and employment verification, returning ownership of verified records to users while streamlining compliance for employers. The company already serves more than 4 million users and over 450 enterprise customers, including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 firms. Its technology leverages cryptography and distributed ledgers to combat fraud, deepfakes, and data breaches in identity management. With co-headquarters in Toronto and San Francisco, TransCrypts plans to broaden its product suite from employment credentials into health and educational records. Proceeds from its latest financing will also support scaling of its customer base, compliance with additional privacy and security standards, and team expansion—particularly at the new Toronto office. The company positions itself at the intersection of digital identity, blockchain infrastructure, and credential verification SaaS. To date it has secured $15 million in outside capital, enabling continued growth in a market increasingly focused on secure, user-controlled identity solutions.

  • Cooler Heads

    Participated · Series A · Jul 2025

    Cooler Heads develops Amma™, which the company describes as the only FDA‑cleared portable scalp cooling system, designed to help chemotherapy patients keep their hair and preserve privacy. Amma provides infusion centers and patients flexibility to scalp cool where it is most convenient, using a continuous cooling system that eliminates the need for dry ice or frequent cap changes. By cooling the scalp before, during, and after chemotherapy, Amma reduces blood flow to hair follicles to shield them from chemotherapy drugs and prevent hair loss. The company was founded by breast cancer survivor Kate Dilligan, who serves as CEO. Cooler Heads positions Amma as a low‑friction therapy for infusion centers and notes the American Medical Association’s decision to elevate scalp cooling reimbursement codes to Category I starting January 2026 as creating momentum. The business also offers evidence‑based products, content, and services to help patients manage treatment side effects. Cooler Heads develops Amma, an FDA-cleared scalp-cooling medical device intended to help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy preserve their hair. The company positions its product as dramatically less expensive and easier to use than existing scalp-cooling solutions. Founder and CEO Kate Dilligan, a cancer survivor, built an early prototype herself and pursued clinical relationships before raising institutional capital. Cooler Heads announced FDA clearance and said it has signed multiple commercial partnerships and will begin serving patients in Q1 2022. The company highlighted its mission-driven focus on patient dignity and plans to push commercialization to make scalp cooling broadly accessible. Cooler Heads has been backed by several venture investors and industry leaders and has participated in accelerators and medtech competitions.

  • Catena Biosciences

    Participated · Seed · May 2024

    CatenaBio is a UC Berkeley spinout from the labs of Jennifer Doudna and Matt Francis focused on creating therapeutic structures that enable multiple kinds of payloads of any size and complexity. Its initial product area is first-in-class "multi payload conjugates" (MPCs™). The company positions its approach as rapidly escalating the effectiveness and usefulness of antibody-drug conjugates and enabling targeted combination therapies beyond current clinical options. CatenaBio plans to accelerate development of its lead asset, launch scale-up activities with leading CROs, and continue supporting business-development partnerships with biotech and pharma collaborators. The recently closed seed extension will extend runway to generate additional compelling data to support a Series A later this year. CEO Marco Lobba, Ph.D., said the funds will enable accelerated buildup of the MPC pipeline.

Team

No current team members are available.