IPIRA Startups

IPIRA Startups

Evergreen Saponins

Brief Description

Evergreen Saponins is commercializing a sustainable, scalable production method for saponins, unlocking a new supply chain for an essential ingredient in processed food, bio-pesticides, medicines, vaccines, and more. Early in his career, company founder Dr. Ricardo San Martin developed techniques for harvesting saponins from the wood and bark of mature wild trees in Chile, fueling demand for the additive worldwide. Now the chemical engineer has invented a breakthrough method to extract commercial-grade saponins from the leaves of Chilean soapbark trees, Quillaja...

Knit Health Technologies

Brief Description

Applying artificial intelligence to clinical decision making in healthcare.

Timeline 2025. Company founded Inventors

Jonas Raphael Knecht, Maya Petersen, Jonathan Kolstad

ProMOF, Inc.

Brief Description

ProMOF is commercializing molecular weaving, a method of creating materials by interconnecting organic threads at the molecular level, much like weaving fabric. The technology, pioneered by UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry Omar Yaghi, makes polymer composites stronger and tougher without compromising function, with potential applications in energy storage, gas separation, and other fields.

Timeline

2024. Company founded Inventors

Omar Yaghi, Yuzhong Liu, Ting Xu, Cornelius Groop, S. Ephraim Neumann,...

ScaleLight

Brief Description

ScaleLight is developing surface-emitting lasers that boost efficiency and scalability for powering everything from manufacturing and fusion plants to data centers and quantum computers. The company was founded by UC Berkeley Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Boubacar Kanté, whose groundbreaking research solved a longstanding optics challenge to create compact, lightweight, high-efficiency lasers, called Berkeley Surface Emitting Lasers, or BerkSEL, for greener manufacturing and energy.
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Sift Biosciences

Brief Description

Sift Biosciences supercharges existing cancer therapies by leveraging artificial intelligence and high-throughput cellular screening to discover and design immunotherapy boosters that significantly extend cancer patient survival. The company was co-founded by Yue Clare Lou (BS ’18 Microbial Biology; PhD ’23 Microbiology) and Maddie Williams (PhD student '23-present, Molecular & Cell Biology) to commercize technology developed during their doctoral research at UC Berkeley.

Timeline 2024. Company founded Inventors

Yue "Clare" Lou, Madeline Dee...

Ambi Robotics

Brief Description

Ambi Robotics offers advanced robot grasping software for logistics and warehouse order fulfillment, allowing robots to grasp a wide variety of objects.

Ambi Robotics grew from the Dexterity Network (Dex-Net) project at UC Berkeley and is led by Dr. Jeff Mahler and Professor Ken Goldberg, experts in robot grasping with a combined 50+ years of experience.

Formerly known as Ambidextrous.

Timeline 2018. Company founded Inventors

Ken Goldberg, Jeffrey Mahler, Matthew Matl

Abacus Power, Inc.

Brief Description

Abacus Power is pioneering power delivery systems that increase power density and efficiency for data centers, satellites, and the aerospace industry.

Timeline 2024. Company founded Inventors

Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, Yicheng Zhu, Nathan Ellis

Emerging Objects Corp.

Brief Description

Emerging Objects is an independent, creatively driven, 3D Printing MAKE-tank specializing in innovations in 3D printing architecture and building components. Emerging Objects' innovation lies in the unique approach to materials and sizes and the belief that 3D printing is the medium where good ideas become real.

UC Berkeley Professor of Architecture Ronald Rael co-founded Emerging Objects with San Jose State University Professor of Design Virginia San Fratello.

Timeline 2013. Company founded Inventors

Ronald Rael

RS3Dprints

Brief Description

3D printing for medical and food applications. Mass producing alternative steaks from alternative ground beef. Scalable solution for 3D printed alternative meat.

The Cryolithographic Technology was initially developed to produce biological organs for organ transplant. Realizing that there was an immediate commercial opportunity in food production, RS3Dprints was spun out of the lab.

Timeline 2016. Company founded Inventors

Boris Rubinsky, Ze'ev Shaked, Michal Adamkievicz

CryoVox Technologies

Brief Description

Crovox Technologies is developing new tools for the mass manufacturing of 3D cell cultures.

Timeline 2024. Company founded Inventors

Boris Rubinsky, Michal Adamkievicz, Ze'ev Shaked