In the business world, private companies valued at over a billion dollars are called unicorns. Like finding the mythic creature in the wild, turning your startup into a unicorn is almost impossible. Nevertheless, Berkeley graduates are responsible for nearly 80 of them. Here are just six, all founded by CS or EECS alums (and one sociology grad):
GOAT
GOAT is a global platform that started off selling sneakers and has since expanded into a wide variety of streetwear. The name comes from the acronym for “greatest of all time,” usually a nod to Michael Jordan, one of the GOATs of basketball (and, importantly to sneakerheads, the namesake of Air Jordans). Since cofounding the fashion marketplace in 2015, CS alum Eddy Lu ’03 has turned parent company, GOAT Group, into a $3.7 billion enterprise.
Oculus VR
As the name suggests, Oculus VR was a virtual reality company, best known for its wireless headsets. It was cofounded by Jack McCauley ’86, a Berkeley EECS alum, and in 2014, only two years after its founding, was bought by Meta (then Facebook) for a cool $2 billion.
Lucid Motors
After graduating with a B.S. in EECS, Sam Weng ’75 cofounded Atieva, which made high-power electric car batteries. Atieva has since turned to making the cars themselves as Lucid Motors, manufacturer of luxury EVs boasting ranges of up to 500 miles per charge. When Lucid went public in a 2021 merger, it was valued at a whopping $24 billion.
Nextdoor
When the social networking app for neighborhoods went public in 2021, it was valued at $4.3 billion. One of Nextdoor’s four founders, Prakash Janakiraman ’23, studied toward a CS degree at Berkeley in the ’90s. A decade after creating the billion-dollar app, he returned to campus to complete his bachelor’s—this time in sociology.
Cockroach Labs
To the non-IT literate, the most interesting thing about Cockroach Labs may be its name. Cockroach? Really? Apparently, its database, CockroachDB, spreads data across several “nodes,” making it almost unkillable—like everyone’s favorite insect. Employees even call themselves “Roachers.” The company, cofounded by EECS grad Peter Mattis ’97 and CS grad Spencer Kimball ’96, is worth $5 billion.
Skydio
EECS baccalaureate Abraham Bachrach ’05 cofounded Skydio, the leading U.S. drone manufacturer, in 2014. It’s worth $4.4 billion and rising. Today, Skydio drones can be found in 42 states in the Drone as First Responder program. In March, the U.S. Army ordered 2,500 Skydio drones for more than $50 million.
