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The House Fund
The House Fund opened in 2016 with a mandate to invest exclusively in companies with a University of California, Berkeley affiliation.
The House Fund
The House Fund opened in 2016 with a mandate to invest exclusively in companies with a University of California, Berkeley affiliation. Partner Cameron Baradar joined Jeremy Fiance to build an institutional-grade venture firm that could systematically cover the founder, researcher, and ecosystem brief emerging from Berkeley's engineering, computer science, and Haas business communities. The firm writes pre-seed and seed checks, occasionally following into Series A rounds, deploying across enterprise software, artificial intelligence, fintech, digital health, and climate technology. Investments span proprietary sourcing from campus labs, spinouts, and the Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator. Confirmed flagship positions include Databricks, which traces its origins to Berkeley's AMPLab, and the synthetic biology company Zymergen. Fiance's earlier vehicle, a small fund raised while still a student in 2015, piloted the thesis before the firm's formal launch. The House Fund raised a second fund in 2018 and a third, reportedly larger, fund in 2022 (per public record). The firm runs a structured scout program that embeds select UC Berkeley graduate students and researchers into its sourcing network. In October 2023, the firm's portfolio company Databricks acquired data collaboration platform Arcion, reinforcing the Berkeley-to-enterprise exit pipeline (per Databricks, October 2023). The firm's sole-university mandate is its structural differentiator — no other venture firm operates with an exclusive, formalized sourcing relationship to the entire University of California, Berkeley ecosystem. The House Fund competes for Berkeley-origin deals with generalist Bay Area seed funds, but its campus-located office and founder-alumni network create an informational moat around lab-to-company transitions.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2016
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Berkeley
Corporate office
Berkeley, CA, United States
Principals
Jeremy Fiance
Founder & Managing Partner
Cameron Baradar
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does The House Fund source its deals?
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.
Does The House Fund invest outside of UC Berkeley-affiliated companies?
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.
What investment stages does The House Fund target?
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.
Who runs investment decisions at The House Fund?
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.
How is The House Fund related to UC Berkeley officially?
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.
Has The House Fund produced notable exits?
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.
Does The House Fund run multiple investment vehicles?
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.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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