Lightspeed and UC Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab agree venture partnership to support AI founders

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sky Computing Lab at UC Berkeley have formed a venture partnership to back student and faculty entrepreneurs amid shifting research funding.

Lightspeed Venture Partners has agreed a venture partnership with UC Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab, according to a LinkedIn post from Partner Faraz Fatemi.

The deal includes a $500,000 founding contribution and promises funding, networks, and startup support for researchers and students building AI-focused companies.

Partnership shaped by reduced research budgets

The collaboration was described by Fatemi as an “industry-first formal partnership with Sky Computing Lab to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and technical leaders at University of California, Berkeley.” He noted that shifts in research funding, particularly through the National Science Foundation, are already having an impact, with “fewer grants, slower timelines, and heightened urgency to commercialize.”

UC Berkeley has produced several high-profile AI and data infrastructure companies, including OpenAI, Databricks, and Perplexity. Fatemi highlighted this track record in his post, writing: “Many of the most consequential AI-native startups of our generation were founded by students, postdocs, faculty, and alums of UC Berkeley, including OpenAI, Databricks, Perplexity, Skild AI, ReflectionAI, Physical Intelligence, and more.” PitchBook data further shows that Berkeley undergraduates have launched more VC-backed startups than any other university globally.

From research to market-ready products

Lightspeed said its partnership with Sky Lab is designed to help transform work in areas like distributed systems, machine learning, and cloud infrastructure into practical applications. The firm also pledged to connect Berkeley researchers with its network of founders and operators, providing both technical and business support from early stages.

Ion Stoica, Professor at UC Berkeley, Director of the Sky Computing Lab, and Co-founder of Databricks and Anyscale, says: “This partnership departs from traditional models, reflecting a response to a new reality. One that demands durable bridges between frontier research and company creation, without compromising the lab’s commitment to open science. It establishes a new model for university-venture collaboration in the AI era.”

Stoica adds: “Berkeley’s history proves that when groundbreaking research meets visionary entrepreneurship, world-changing companies are born. This partnership between Sky and Lightspeed seeks to ensure the university’s next generation of innovators will not only participate in the future of artificial intelligence. They’ll help define it.”

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