# Berkeley Yeast

> Berkeley Yeast is an Oakland-based biotechnology company that bioengineers specialized yeast strains for brewers, winemakers, and beverage makers, giving fermented drinks new flavors, greater consistency, and lower resource use without changing a brewery's existing equipment or process.

- **Founded:** 2016
- **Headquarters:** Oakland, California, United States
- **Founders:** Charles Denby (CEO & Co-founder), Nick Harris (Co-founder), Rachel Li (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** 26 employees
- **Products:** FRESH strains, TROPICS / TROPICS Boost, SUPERBLOOM, GALACTIC, SUMMERSTONE, NA Classic / NA Cabana, Custom yeast development
- **Notable:** Raised a $10.47M Series A led by Anterra Capital and Finistere Ventures (2023), Received grant support from NSF, NIH, and USDA, Spun out of Nobel-adjacent synthetic biology research in Jay Keasling's UC Berkeley lab

## Products & services

- **FRESH strains** — Yeast strains engineered for ultra-low diacetyl production for cleaner, faster fermentations.
- **TROPICS / TROPICS Boost** — Thiol-boosting yeast strains that produce tropical fruit flavors such as guava, grapefruit, and passionfruit without added fruit.
- **SUPERBLOOM, GALACTIC, SUMMERSTONE** — Specialty flavor-series strains for hazy and hop-forward beer styles.
- **NA Classic / NA Cabana** — Maltose- and maltotriose-negative yeast strains that limit alcohol production while preserving beer flavor compounds, built for non-alcoholic beer.
- **Custom yeast development** — B2B strain development and licensing services for breweries, wineries, and other fermentation companies with specific flavor or performance needs.

## Achievements

- Raised a $10.47M Series A led by Anterra Capital and Finistere Ventures (2023)
- Received grant support from NSF, NIH, and USDA
- Spun out of Nobel-adjacent synthetic biology research in Jay Keasling's UC Berkeley lab
- Released NA Classic and NA Cabana, engineered strains for full-flavor non-alcoholic beer
- Participated in SF Beer Week 2026 with dual collaboration beers 'Topper' and 'Dumpster Fire'

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Hosted a webinar with Breakside Brewery on brewing safe, flavorful non-alcoholic beer using Berkeley Yeast's LNA/NA strains.
- **2026-02** — Released collaboration beers 'Topper' (Hazy IPA) and 'Dumpster Fire' (West Coast IPA) for SF Beer Week 2026.

## Links

- Website: https://berkeleyyeast.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/berkeleyyeast
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BerkeleyYeast

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/berkeley-yeast
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-13