PLASMA
A 12-week startup accelerator for UC Davis student founders. Teams get equity-free stipends, mentors, cloud credits and a live Demo Day.
Money, mentors and a stage
Stipends and Demo Day
Equity-free stipends through the 12 weeks, and a live Demo Day with judges.
Mini-cohorts and mentors
Tight cohorts of 5–7 teams, with mentor matching across the Health and Open tracks.
Alumni dinner
Graduation includes an Alumni Dinner with current founders, YC alumni, VC partners and mentors.
Pick the one that fits your team
Human and animal health
Biomedical, medical device, digital health and animal health startups. Based at Aggie Square, which is run by Venture Catalyst / Innovation and Economic Development (IEDO), with innovation mentors there.
Open cohort
AI tooling, physical tech, software platforms, climate tech, robotics and consumer apps, from any UC Davis discipline.
PLASMA and the Founders Program have separate applications. Founders Program is open all year.
The 12-week roadmap
- Weeks 1–3
Validation and discovery
Customer interviews, value proposition testing and market sizing.
- Weeks 4–6
MVP prototyping
Rapid build sprints, with the Bainer 1124 lab for hardware.
- Weeks 7–9
Traction and growth
Pilots, user acquisition, unit economics and customer feedback loops.
- Weeks 10–12
Demo Day pitch
Pitch deck polish, investor rehearsals and live presentations.
Applications haven't opened yet
They open in December, and this page will link to the application then. PLASMA is open to student founder teams from any major with at least one currently enrolled UC Davis undergraduate.