The House Fund

The firm sources exclusively from the University of California, Berkeley ecosystem — including faculty research labs, student-founded startups, and alumni networks. Its proximity to campus and a structured scout program of graduate students give it early visibility into technical talent before companies formally raise. The fund also works closely with Berkeley SkyDeck, the university's accelerator.

No. The firm's mandate is restricted to startups where at least one founder, a key researcher, or a core technology originated at UC Berkeley. This includes faculty spinouts, student-launched ventures, and companies commercializing Berkeley intellectual property. The fund does not pursue general market deals without a campus connection.

The firm focuses on pre-seed and seed rounds, frequently as the first institutional capital in a company. It occasionally participates in Series A rounds for portfolio companies. Check sizes are not publicly disclosed, but the fund's early-stage positioning suggests initial investments typically fall within the sub-$2 million range for pre-seed and up to several million for seed.

Founder Jeremy Fiance and Partner Cameron Baradar lead the investment committee. Fiance started investing in Berkeley startups while an undergraduate, building a track record that included early exposure to Databricks. The firm's small partnership structure means all material investment decisions go through the founding team.

The House Fund is an independent private venture capital firm and is not a division or affiliate of the University of California. It raises capital from external limited partners and operates commercially. However, its exclusive investment thesis and Berkeley-located office create deep informal ties to the campus entrepreneur and research community.

Databricks remains the fund's most prominent portfolio holding, having grown from a Berkeley AMPLab research project into a company valued at over $40 billion. Databricks acquired Arcion in October 2023, further validating the Berkeley-to-enterprise trajectory. Other exits include the IPO of Zymergen in 2021, though that company faced subsequent operational struggles.

The firm has raised at least three core venture funds since 2016, along with a precursor vehicle in 2015 when founder Jeremy Fiance was still a student. It also operates a scout program that embeds current UC Berkeley graduate students into its deal-sourcing process, though the scout structure functions more as an extension of the core fund than a standalone vehicle.