TOP 100 MAGAZINE

Dr. Kurt Beyer
Shaping the Future of Innovation at UC Berkeley and Beyond

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Building a Bridge from Research to Enterprise
 

Dr. Kurt Beyer has spent the past 15 years transforming cutting-edge research into real-world impact. As a senior lecturer of entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and general partner and founder of the California Innovation Fund, Kurt has helped guide the launch of 80+ venture-backed startups born from the university's scientific and technological discoveries. With a clear mission—“to turn science into jobs and value for the country”—Kurt works at the intersection of academia, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

 

A Career Rooted in Service and Strategy

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Following his service as a naval officer, Kurt sought to continue serving the country in a different capacity. “After the Navy, the most patriotic thing I could think of was to help turn science into companies that create jobs and add to the GDP,” he says. That calling led him to entrepreneurship and institutional investment. Prior to founding the Cal Fund, he served as a senior partner at Parallel Advisors, where he helped grow the firm to $6 billion in assets under management. His academic credentials are equally impressive, with a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s from Oxford University, and a PhD from UC Berkeley. He is also the author of Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age (MIT Press, 2009), a biography of one of computing’s most influential pioneers.

 

Educating Entrepreneurs and Seeding Startups

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Since 2010, Kurt has guided the entrepreneurship program at Berkeley Haas, blending academic rigor with startup execution. He redesigned the curriculum to pair MBA students with PhD and master’s students in engineering and the sciences, enabling them to form interdisciplinary teams and develop viable companies. This hands-on approach has produced a steady stream of startups, including, Catena Bio, EdVisorly, Freewire, Traveling Spoon, and PlushCare—many of which started as student projects in his classroom. Roughly half of the Cal Fund’s portfolio weas founded by students Kurt mentored, and he continues to help them grow at the Fund’s general partner.

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The California Innovation Fund: A Virtuous Cycle

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Frustrated by the limitations of public funding, Kurt pitched a bold idea to the Haas dean: launch an affiliated venture capital fund that reinvests into the university. Today, the California Innovation Fund dedicates itself exclusively to startups founded by alumni of the University of California system. One unique feature? Fifty percent of the general partner’s return goes back to UC Berkeley’s entrepreneurship program. This reinvestment model ensures that successful startups help fund the next wave of innovators, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem. “We’re not just building startups,” Kurt says. “We’re building a system that funds itself and scales impact.”

 

Driving the World’s Top Innovation Hub

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UC Berkeley’s proximity to Silicon Valley positions it at the epicenter of global entrepreneurship. According to a 10-year study by PitchBook published in 2024, Berkeley leads all universities in producing venture-backed startups, even surpassing Stanford. Between them, the two institutions have generated 3,039 startups and 3,358 founders and these companies have raised $139 Billion. 

Pitchbook published August 30, 2024: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/pitchbook-university-rankings

 

 

Dr. Kurt Beyer
Senior Lecturer Entrepreneurship: UC Berkeley, Haas Business School
General Partner and Founder: California Innovation Fund
Website: https://californiainnovationfund.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/californiainnovationfund/