The UC San Diego Venture Catalyst Program (VCP) is designed to remove barriers by increasing access to capital for investment-ready companies, from startups to small & medium enterprises. The VCP aims to foster a thriving ecosystem for visionary founders and startups. The initiative ensures inclusivity by engaging women, veterans, BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQAI+ entrepreneurs, driving transformative innovation and invigorating the regional workforce.
Selected companies will receive additional training, coaching/mentoring, and introductions to venture funds, and/or other funding vehicles.
Whether it’s venture capital, loans, and/or grants, investment readiness/preparedness helps prepare founders and startups to attract potential investors, articulate its vision, and demonstrate a clear path to profitability. It's more than just having a good pitch deck, and investors expect entrepreneurs to understand: key financial and legal terminology, their market, competition, and business model.
Companies are eligible for the VCP, when they are “investable”, advanced enough to have a compelling story with supporting market and/or product data (see the Investment Preparedness Diagram). To complete the interest form, you must upload a pdf of an Executive Summary of your company and a 2-minute video (see questions below for the video).
Essentials of Entrepreneurship & Innovation provides an introduction to critical knowledge and skills related to creating new business and product ideas. In this course, you will discover new ways of thinking, learn to drive innovative initiatives, and approach business challenges with a fresh perspective. By the end of the course, you will be able to understand the principles and methods of idea generation and development.
UC Foundry @ HomeLab is a life sciences accelerator at UC San Diego. Teams admitted into their programs gain exclusive access to university resources, funding, talent, mentorship, academic key opinion leaders, strategic partners, and world-class R&D workspaces – including fully-equipped Community Labs, onsite vivarium, and GMP-ready clean rooms.