Hongtao Ted Hou, PhD

Ted Hou is a business professional and venture capitalist with a diverse background in marketing, R&D, sales, business development, and business management. He is a founding partner of the Berkeley Catalyst Fund, where he has raised and managed multiple funds focused on early-stage startups, particularly in the life sciences and material science sectors. Ted has worked to foster relationships between academia and industry across the US and Asia and serves as an advisor to the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and various startup accelerators.

Before transitioning to venture capital, Ted held leadership roles in the renewable energy and optical telecom industries, contributing to product strategy and market expansion for companies such as Hanwha SolarOne, GCL Solar Energy, and NRG Energy Solar Residential Solutions. His career began in optical telecom, where he advanced from an application engineer to a managerial role at companies like Oplink Communications and JDSU.

Ted holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, where he conducted research under Nobel Laureate Professor Yuan T. Lee. His early career included contributions to research at IBM’s Almaden Research Center. Ted is currently an advisor to the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley.

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