The House Fund
The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 and based in Berkeley, California that invests exclusively in UC Berkeley-affiliated founders (alumni, faculty, students) with programs including an AI Accelerator, BAIR Grant, and AI faculty partnership platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The House Fund does
The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 by Jeremy Fiance and based in Berkeley, California. The fund invests exclusively in startups founded by UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, students, or affiliates, deploying up to $1 million at pre-seed and up to $2 million at early-stage, typically leading or co-leading rounds and often acting as the first institutional investor.
The firm operates a platform of interconnected programs: a 10-week AI Accelerator for Berkeley-affiliated founders building AI companies (offering investment plus up to $750,000 in free compute), the BAIR Grant program supporting Berkeley AI researchers with up to $250,000 on uncapped SAFE plus $600,000 in compute, and an AI@The House initiative launched in 2016 in partnership with seven world-leading Berkeley AI researchers including Ion Stoica, Michael Jordan, and Trevor Darrell. Premium compute partnerships with Databricks, Microsoft, and OpenAI extend the platform's infrastructure offerings to portfolio companies.
Since inception, The House Fund has backed more than 100 startups, including 7 unicorns (Databricks, Flexport, Perplexity, Anyscale, PsiQuantum, Ayar Labs, and a seventh), with portfolio companies collectively raising $5.2 billion in follow-on capital and achieving 20+ exits through acquisitions by Google, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, VMware, Coinbase, Snowflake, Cloudflare, and others. The firm earns returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies, with exits and secondary transactions being the primary realization mechanism; management fees from limited partners are the operating revenue base. The team is intentionally lean (1-10 employees including 7 core investment professionals plus AI faculty and alumni part-time partners), relying on a 600,000+ Berkeley alumni network for sourcing and portfolio support.
The House Fund firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The House Fund
- Legal name
- The House Fund, LLC
- Website
- https://thehouse.fund
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 and based in Berkeley, California that invests exclusively in UC Berkeley-affiliated founders (alumni, faculty, students) with programs including an AI Accelerator, BAIR Grant, and AI faculty partnership platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The House Fund industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI)
Keywords
Where The House Fund is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
The House Fund business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Venture Capital Returns: The House Fund generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies. As a pre-seed and early-stage VC, they invest in exchange for equity stakes, with returns realized through portfolio company exits (acquisitions, IPOs) or secondary transactions.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
The House Fund product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests up to $1,000,000 at pre-seed and up to $2,000,000 at the early stage in startups with at least one UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, student, or affiliate founder. It supplements capital with an AI Accelerator program, the BAIR Grant for AI researchers, and an AI@The House initiative backed by seven Berkeley AI faculty partners.
Product overview
The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital fund focused exclusively on UC Berkeley-affiliated founders. The firm operates as a platform of interconnected programs: it provides direct capital through pre-seed investments (up to $1M) and early-stage investments (up to $2M); offers structured acceleration through its AI Accelerator (10-week program with up to $750K compute credits and partnerships with Databricks, Microsoft, and OpenAI); supports academic AI research via the BAIR Grant (up to $250K funding plus $600K compute for researchers); and surrounds founders with ecosystem resources including mentorship, recruiting, campus access, free software credits, PR, and customer introductions through its AI@The House initiative backed by seven Berkeley AI faculty partners.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AI Accelerator: A highly selective, hands-on accelerator program for UC Berkeley-affiliated founders building AI companies, offering funding from $250,000 up to $1,000,000 and access to personalized support.
- BAIR Grant
Products and services
- Pre-seed Investment Pre-seed investment of up to $1,000,000 in Berkeley-affiliated startups, typically the first investor or part of a syndicate, targeting founders with at least one UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, student, or affiliate.
- Early-stage Investment Early-stage investment of up to $2,000,000 in Berkeley-affiliated startups, typically leading or co-leading Seed rounds or participating in Seed or Series A syndicates.
- AI Accelerator A 10-week hands-on accelerator program for UC Berkeley-affiliated founders building AI companies, providing investment from $250,000 up to $1,000,000, mentorship from AI faculty partners, and AI-specific resources including up to $750,000 in free compute through partnerships with Databricks, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
- BAIR Grant Funding program supporting Berkeley AI researchers with up to $250,000 on an uncapped SAFE and up to $600,000 in free compute on American infrastructure, designed to respond to federal research funding cuts and provide a path to commercializing AI research.
- AI@The House AI initiative partnering with seven top AI researchers from Berkeley to support AI startups through academic-industry collaboration, providing founders with access to AI talent, insights, and research to bring AI innovation to market.
Companies that use The House Fund
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The House Fund technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
The House Fund partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- UC BerkeleycoreOfficial partnership with UC Berkeley for startup ecosystem development. The House Fund is separate legal entity from UC Berkeley but works closely with campus.
- DatabricksmajorPremium partnership providing The House Fund AI Accelerator startups with special access to Databricks technology and resources.
- MicrosoftmajorPremium partnership providing AI Accelerator startups with Microsoft Azure compute credits and technology access.
- OpenAImajorPremium partnership providing The House Fund AI Accelerator startups with special access and credits from OpenAI.
- Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) LabcoreCore partnership with BAIR Lab professors for the BAIR Grant program and AI@The House initiative. Professors Ion Stoica, Joseph Gonzalez, Ken Goldberg, Kurt Keutzer, and Trevor Darrell serve as AI Faculty Partners.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
The House Fund competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Susa Ventures: Early-stage venture fund focused on community-driven investing and supporting founders from inception. Comparable in stage, community-first philosophy, and check size profile.
- AIX Ventures: AI-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund backed by leading AI researchers and practitioners. Comparable to House Fund in AI thesis concentration and early-stage focus.
- Pioneer Fund: Pre-seed and seed venture fund investing in startups founded by students, alumni, and faculty from top universities. Directly comparable in stage, check size, and university-affiliation mandate.
- StartX: Stanford University's startup accelerator and venture fund, providing seed capital, mentorship, and resources to Stanford-affiliated founders. The closest structural analog to The House Fund's Berkeley-only, community-first model.
- Contrary Capital: University-affiliated venture fund that invests in student entrepreneurs from top universities. Comparable to The House Fund's community-driven, university-network-based sourcing approach.
Broad incumbents
- Bloomberg Beta: Early-stage venture fund focused on enterprise and applied AI. Comparable in stage focus and AI/enterprise thematic overlap, though broader in geographic and affiliation scope.
- DCVC: Deep tech and AI-focused venture fund with scientific founder base. Comparable in deep AI/technical thesis and academic-founder orientation, but operates at later stages.
- Founders Fund: Multi-stage venture firm with deep tech focus and Berkeley alumni connections (Zachary Hargreaves joined House Fund from Founders Fund). Comparable in thesis orientation toward deep tech and frontier technology founders.
- Plug and Play Tech Center: Large global accelerator and early-stage investor with vertical-specific programs and corporate partnerships. Comparable in accelerator-style programming and corporate partnership model.
- Y Combinator: The largest and most established pre-seed/seed accelerator, offering standardized investments and demo days. Operates at much larger scale and broader geographic/affiliation scope than The House Fund.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The House Fund social profiles
Digital presenceThe House Fund financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The House Fund leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles16 records
The House Fund funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The House Fund M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments130 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The House Fund
What does The House Fund do?
The House Fund is a pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests up to $1,000,000 at pre-seed and up to $2,000,000 at the early stage in startups with at least one UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, student, or affiliate founder. It supplements capital with an AI Accelerator program, the BAIR Grant for AI researchers, and an AI@The House initiative backed by seven Berkeley AI faculty partners.
Is The House Fund a public or private company?
The House Fund is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The House Fund founded?
The House Fund was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is The House Fund based?
The House Fund is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does The House Fund make money?
One revenue line is on record: venture Capital Returns.
Who are The House Fund's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Susa Ventures, AIX Ventures, Pioneer Fund, StartX and Contrary Capital. Broad incumbents are Bloomberg Beta, DCVC, Founders Fund, Plug and Play Tech Center and Y Combinator.
Does The House Fund have an API?
No public API is recorded for The House Fund.
What industry is The House Fund in?
The House Fund's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAA, Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed), with a secondary code of FSANAAAI, Micro-VC & Angel Funds. Its NAICS code is 5259 and its SIC code is 6282.