Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our crowdfunding campaign has ended, but you can still support the Startup UCLA Program Fund by clicking here.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Startup UCLA. The program aims to develop a culture of entrepreneurial thinking and connect students of all backgrounds with successful alumni and industry mentors. With Startup UCLA’s wide array of workshops, office hours, venture consulting sessions, entrepreneurial education, guest speaker programs and a co-working space, students are supported at every step in their journey to building a viable business.
To close out our celebration of a decade of innovation, we invite alumni, students, friends, staff and faculty to join us to help reach our goal of $50,000. Your contribution, regardless of size, directly impacts our students by providing them funding and the resources they need to turn their ideas into a reality.
In the past ten years, Startup UCLA has been at the forefront of innovation and creativity on campus. Our programs have provided students and faculty the opportunity to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to life. The result has been 1,197 ventures supported from 3,010 Bruin entrepreneurs, 13,000 event attendees, and over $100 million raised from our 104 Summer Accelerator alumni teams.
Looking to the next 10 years and beyond, Startup UCLA plans to continue to collaborate with the campus and alumni community to help strengthen entrepreneurial education across the university and lead the next decade of Bruin innovation.
Startup UCLA’s flagship program, the Summer Accelerator has been providing experiential learning opportunities to students for a decade. The program is a ten-week incubator that provides an invaluable opportunity for 8-10 teams of students and recent alumni. Participants receive seed money, access to office hours, and connections to industry professionals and mentors. Every year, the early stage teams visit with and pitch to prominent entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. The program concludes with Demo Day, when teams get a special opportunity to showcase their innovations to industry business leaders.
Alumni of the Summer Accelerator are part of an exclusive network of just over 100 companies who have gone through the program since it launched in 2012. Today, three companies are generating more than $1 million in annual revenue, three have been acquired, and many others have received outside funding from angels and venture capitalists. Others have gone on to work at Uber, Facebook, Google, and Bird, to name a few.
The program identifies eight to ten faculty-led teams to participate in dedicated mentoring with Startup UCLA aimed at advancing entrepreneurial excellence and startup culture. This program is a twelve-week “accelerator” focused on pitch development, business strategy, and venture consulting and is designed to advance faculty innovative academic projects into new startup companies, centers, or non-profits.
Bruin Impact empowers students to drive positive social change. Through mentorship, workshops and the Bruin Impact Challenge, students learn to leverage an entrepreneurial mindset and cultivate ideas to improve the world.
Looking towards the next decade of Startup UCLA, we envision expanding the reach of our programs and creating new opportunities for students, alumni and faculty. Your support will ensure Startup UCLA leads the campus in growing entrepreneurial efforts and developing the leaders and change-makers of tomorrow.
Your contributions to this giving campaign will support current accelerator students and provide the resources to increase our programs’ impact for years to come. When you join us, you are supporting the future generations of innovators, leaders, and trailblazers at UCLA.
Each team that participates in the Summer Accelerator receives $5,000 in seed funding. In order to fully fund all our teams this year, your support is needed to enable our teams to build their business. With 8 teams this year, we need to raise $40,000 to ensure all our teams have the funding they need to nurture their startup ideas.
Your generous support will allow our teams to focus on building upon their entrepreneurial skills and creating a community with fellow Startup UCLA students. Funding is a big moment for all entrepreneurs – when you fund these students ideas you’re creating this unforgettable moment for them and building their confidence for all of their future business ventures.
Local and national conferences and events provide enriching opportunities for our Bruin entrepreneurs. Not only are students exposed to new ideas, but they gain valuable networking and teambuilding experiences. These opportunities for collaboration and feedback are crucial for developing their ventures as young entrepreneurs.
By giving discretionary program funding, you are helping us provide crucial resources and services for our students to learn and develop entrepreneurial skills. These include opportunities such as workshops, legal services, mentorship and events to connect students with community and industry experts.
Below, hear from Bruin entrepreneurs who were supported by Startup UCLA over its past ten years.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS
Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments.
Your gift will help create the foundational support for our programs, providing a community for Bruins to develop their startup ideas.
Your gift will help Startup UCLA provide the guidance, legal services and mentors to early-stage companies.
Your gift will allow Startup UCLA to host and participate in local and national events and conferences.
Your support will help create internship opportunities for our students.
Your generosity will help with outreach efforts to strengthen our community ties and bring industry experts to campus.
The funds you provide will enable one team to build their business during the Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator.