Fall '26 Deep Tech Accelerator application open! Apply now.

Our Team

The Berkeley Gateway Accelerator (BGA) pairs deep tech founders with exceptional talent, interdisciplinary collaboration, and strategic capital.
Two decades of corporate innovation expertise
50+ early-stage investments over two decades
Proven frameworks & track record for commercializing deep tech innovations
Global network of experienced deep tech operators & investors

Our values

01
Solve important problems
The companies we support range from incremental improvements that quietly change how the world works to moonshot ideas that transform entire industries. What they share is a genuine commitment to building something that rises above the balance sheet.
02
Give more than you take
We measure success by what founders leave with, not what we take. Small cohorts, deep attention, real investment, in every sense of the word. The value we create for founders is the value we create for the world.
03
Work with rigor and resilience
Nothing at BGA happens by accident: cohort size, advisor introductions, programming decisions. We believe enduring companies are built through discipline, resilience, and long-term thinking. The care we put into how we work is inseparable from the outcomes we’re working to create.
04
Bring people together. Often.
We believe the best person for the job isn't always the most credentialed or expected one. We hire that way and we invest that way. The founders we back are selected on the strength of their science, their potential, and their drive and not their institution, their network, or their pedigree. The same is true of the team we've built: diverse in generation, nationality, and background, because the work demands it and the future requires it

Our team

Leadership
Matt Rappaport
Managing Partner
Nirav Bisarya
General Partner
Team
Kavisha Shroff
Program Manager & Venture Associate
Marian Corpus
Program Operations & Founder Experience
Viktor Ström, PhD
Venture Partner
Emily Anderson
Entreprenuerial Fellow
Aditi Jhanwar
Entreprenuerial Fellow
Kirthika Padmanabhan
Entreprenuerial Fellow
Technical Advisors
Ryan Anderson
AI & Deep Tech Technical Advisor
Steve Krawczyk
Biotech & Healthcare Technical Advisor
Michael Yan
Deep Tech Technical Advisor
Marian Barber
Board Member & Biotech Executive
Advisory Board
David J. Teece
Executive Chairman, Berkeley Research Group; Emeritus Professor, UC Berkeley
Bowman Heiden
Executive Director, UC Berkeley Tusher Strategic Initiative for Technology
Wayne Stacy
Executive Director & Instructor, UC Berkeley Law & Technology
Lisa Salley
Board Member, Arduro Rubber; Former SVP, GE
Arjun Arora
Managing Partner, Format One
Raghav Kohli
Chief Legal Officer, Lila Science; Former Senior Director, Waymo
Bruce Kahn
Portfolio Manager, Sheldon Capital
Alex Ashton
Managing Principal, BGA MediaLab