UCSF
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1873
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
UCSF firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- UCSF
- Legal name
- University of California, San Francisco
- Website
- https://innovation.ucsf.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1873
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
UCSF industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Biomedical Research Commercialization
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) (EDAHAAAC)
Keywords
Where UCSF is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices6 records
Markets served
UCSF business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
UCSF product offering
Product offeringCore offering
UCSF Innovation Ventures commercializes biomedical research from the University of California, San Francisco by licensing proprietary technologies, supporting startup formation through the Catalyst Accelerator, and forming strategic industry alliances. The office manages technology transfer, patent prosecution, and equity stakes in spinout companies spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health, and computational health (AI). Its parent institution delivers clinical care through UCSF Health, operates medical education programs, and conducts federally funded research as one of the top NIH-funded public universities in the United States.
Product overview
UCSF Innovation Ventures supports the commercialization of research discoveries through technology licensing, startup formation, and strategic partnerships. The portfolio includes startups spanning Diagnostics (Delve Bio, Exai Bio, Mission Bio, Aclarion), Digital Health (Tidepool, Elemeno Health), Therapeutics (Vevo Therapeutics, Neurona Therapeutics, Shinobi Therapeutics, Erasca, Rezo, Chroma Medicine, Nested Therapeutics, Thymmune), Medical Devices (MindRhythm Harmony), and AI/Research Tools (GPT-Rosalind, Pillar-0, BeeKeeperAI). These ventures are supported through HealthTech Commercialization services, the Catalyst Accelerator program, Executive-in-Residence program, and strategic alliance partnerships. The ecosystem connects researchers and clinicians with industry partners, investors, and commercialization resources to translate breakthrough science into patient-benefiting products.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- UCSF Health: The clinical enterprise of UCSF comprising UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals
- UCSF Innovation Ventures
- UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Products and services
- HealthTech Commercialization
- Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program
- Catalyst Accelerator Program
- Executive-in-Residence (XiR) Program
- Technology Licensing
- Strategic Alliances
- UCSF Health Clinical Services
- UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program
- Innovation Showcase
Quantifiable outcome
- UCSF researchers have founded pioneering companies including Genentech, Chiron, and numerous current biotech startups
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use UCSF
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
UCSF technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability13 records
Feature5 records
UCSF partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.
- Aethlon MedicalminorResearch collaboration with Aethlon Medical on the Hemopurifier device for Long COVID treatment. UCSF investigators conducted peer-reviewed research demonstrating GNA affinity resin effectiveness in capturing mannosylated extracellular vesicles.
- UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer CentercoreCollaboration on ASPIRE (Asian American Cohort Study), one of the most significant U.S. public health initiatives on Asian American cancer disparities, funded by National Cancer Institute. UCSF is one of 20 academic institutions recruiting 20,000 participants aged 40-75.
- Filament Health (Red Light Holland subsidiary)minorAgreement for Filament Health to supply its PEX010 botanical psilocybin drug candidate to UCSF for a clinical trial investigating psychedelics in healthy older adults with low well-being and biomarkers for preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
- AclarionminorUCSF investigators utilized Aclarion's Nociscan MRI spectroscopy technology in a research study on back pain patients with Modic type 1 changes. The study received the 2026 ISSLS Best Paper Award.
- Donor Network WestcoreFive-year collaboration developing VITAL Core program, a scalable model connecting donated organs and tissues not used for transplant to researchers. Between 2021-2024, participating laboratories grew from 8 to 42, and researchers secured over $28.6 million in funding.
- Vanderbilt University Medical CentercoreVanderbilt developed VAMOS (Vigilant AI Monitoring Operations System), an open-source platform for real-time AI performance monitoring in healthcare. UCSF is an early adopter health system in the open-source collaborative working with standards organizations including HL7 and the Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network.
- SciBase Holding ABminorUCSF researchers conducted a study demonstrating SciBase's Nevisense platform using Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy can detect age-related changes in skin barrier, identifying 35 specific age-associated EIS features.
- OpenAIflagshipUCSF School of Pharmacy is deploying GPT-Rosalind, a purpose-built reasoning model for life sciences research, drug discovery, and translational medicine. The model supports multi-step reasoning across chemistry, genomics, and protein engineering and achieved leading performance on BixBench bioinformatics benchmark.
- Caris Life SciencescoreUCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center joined the Caris Precision Oncology Alliance, a global network of leading cancer centers collaborating on precision oncology and biomarker-driven research. The alliance leverages Caris' AI-driven molecular profiling platform and one of the industry's largest multimodal databases containing matched molecular and clinical outcomes data from hundreds of thousands of cancer patients.
- Azalea TherapeuticscoreUCSF scientists developed dual-vector CAR T cell generation technology commercialized through Azalea Therapeutics. The company has demonstrated efficacy in non-human primates and targets first-in-human trials by end of 2027.
- Nektar TherapeuticsminorCollaboration with UCSF on TNFR2 program for multiple sclerosis studies. Nektar is executing a large equity raise and pivoting toward immunology with positive Phase 2b results for lead candidate REZPEG.
- GE HealthCarecoreNew 10-year collaboration focused on remote imaging and workforce education. The partnership includes GE HealthCare's innovation pipeline of over 100 FDA-approved AI-enabled devices and aims to advance imaging technology and training programs.
- SandboxAQcoreCollaboration between UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and SandboxAQ demonstrating how large quantitative AI models can compress neurodegenerative disease research timelines from years to months using the AQBioSim platform.
- UC BerkeleycoreJoint development of Pillar-0, an open-source AI model for analyzing full 3D medical imaging volumes. The model outperformed leading models from Google, Microsoft, and Alibaba by over 10% across 366 diagnostic tasks.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
UCSF competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Stanford Medicine / Stanford Office of Technology Licensing: Stanford's tech transfer office is the closest peer — a private research university with an AMC driving therapeutics, diagnostics, device and digital health spinouts (e.g., Genentech legacy). Directly comparable in commercialization model, biotech spinout volume and Bay Area positioning.
- MIT Technology Licensing Office: MIT's TLO commercializes biomedical and engineering IP from a top-tier research university, producing deep spinout pipelines in biotech, medical devices, and computational health. Highly analogous institutional tech transfer model with global licensing reach.
- Harvard Office of Technology Development: Harvard OTD manages IP commercialization across Harvard's biomedical enterprise, including partnerships with affiliated hospitals. Comparable scale of therapeutics, diagnostics and digital health disclosures and similar institutional tech transfer governance.
- Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures: JHTV commercializes IP from Johns Hopkins' schools of medicine and public health, with a comparable blend of therapeutics, diagnostics and digital health spinouts. Closely matched in research intensity, NIH funding scale and academic medical center affiliation.
- University of Pennsylvania Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Penn's tech transfer arm commercializes a leading CAR-T and gene therapy pipeline from an academic medical center, with analogous biotech spinout activity (e.g., Novartis-partnered cell therapies). Directly comparable in cell/gene therapy IP pipeline.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard: Independent biomedical research institute affiliated with MIT/Harvard/Harvard-affiliated hospitals, focused on genomics, cell biology and chemical biology. Comparable in mission, scale of NIH funding, and spinout pipeline activity in therapeutics and computational biology.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Technology Development: MSK's tech development office commercializes oncology IP from a top NCI-designated cancer center. Closely comparable in therapeutic-area focus, precision oncology pipeline and academic-industry partnership structure.
- Duke Office of Licensing & Ventures: Duke OLV manages IP commercialization across Duke's schools of medicine and engineering, with a comparable spinout pipeline in cell therapy, genomics and medical devices. Similar institutional tech transfer economics and academic-industry partnership model.
- Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization: Vanderbilt CTTC manages biomedical IP from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with comparable activity in diagnostics, digital health and AI tools for healthcare (e.g., VAMOS, which UCSF has adopted). Same academic medical center / TTO structure.
- Cleveland Clinic Innovations: Cleveland Clinic Innovations is the commercialization arm of a major academic medical center, with a comparable mix of therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and digital health spinouts. Similar scale of clinical-research-driven IP generation and partnership structure with industry.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
UCSF social profiles
Digital presenceUCSF financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
UCSF leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
UCSF subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
UCSF funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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UCSF M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about UCSF
What does UCSF do?
UCSF Innovation Ventures commercializes biomedical research from the University of California, San Francisco by licensing proprietary technologies, supporting startup formation through the Catalyst Accelerator, and forming strategic industry alliances. The office manages technology transfer, patent prosecution, and equity stakes in spinout companies spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health, and computational health (AI). Its parent institution delivers clinical care through UCSF Health, operates medical education programs, and conducts federally funded research as one of the top NIH-funded public universities in the United States.
Is UCSF a public or private company?
UCSF is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was UCSF founded?
UCSF was founded in 1873. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is UCSF based?
UCSF is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are UCSF's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Stanford Medicine / Stanford Office of Technology Licensing, MIT Technology Licensing Office, Harvard Office of Technology Development, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, University of Pennsylvania Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Memorial Sloan Kettering Technology Development, Duke Office of Licensing & Ventures, Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization and Cleveland Clinic Innovations.
Does UCSF have an API?
No public API is recorded for UCSF.
What industry is UCSF in?
UCSF's product category is Biomedical Research Commercialization. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAHAAAC, Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs). Its NAICS code is 541714 and its SIC code is 8731.