Matthew Sonsini

Matthew W. Sonsini is the managing partner and co-founder of Ravello Impact and principal and co-founder of Academic Innovation Catalyst (AIC). AIC is a philanthropic initiative created by Matt and Lisa Sonsini in 2023 to help academic innovators commercialize research with positive social impact, beginning with UC Berkeley and later expanding across multiple UC campuses through partnerships with the Bakar Fellows Program and CITRIS.

Before Ravello and AIC, Sonsini spent nearly 20 years as a corporate and securities attorney in Silicon Valley, including as an associate and partner at Cooley and later as a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. His work focused on technology companies at all stages, venture and financial institution financings, IPOs, M&A, corporate formation, governance, SEC compliance, and complex corporate matters. He also taught securities law at UC Berkeley School of Law and chaired a California Bar committee on startup formation / startup transaction documents.

Sonsini joined The Sobrato Organization in 2008 as executive vice president, later serving as chief operating officer and chief investment officer. In those roles he created and grew Sobrato Capital, the organization’s private and public securities investment platform. In 2018 he was promoted to CEO of The Sobrato Organization, overseeing investment, real estate, and philanthropic operations; he stepped out of the CEO role in June 2023 to pursue a new venture.

He graduated from Dartmouth College and UC Berkeley School of Law. He and Lisa Sobrato Sonsini are long-time UC Berkeley supporters, Giving Pledge signatories as of 2025, and co-founders of Ravello Impact and AIC.

• Sonsini’s current focus is academic commercialization for public benefit: AIC aims to help university research move from the lab into market-ready solutions, especially in deep tech and social-impact categories.
• AIC is designed as a “force multiplier” for existing entrepreneurial programs, incubators, and accelerators, rather than a standalone accelerator.
• The platform emphasizes climate tech and AI for good, and recent AIC/CITRIS awards target AI and data science, climate and sustainability, life sciences and biotechnology, and semiconductor design and manufacturing.
• AIC support includes proof-of-concept funding, commercialization mentorship, venture-development support, access to CITRIS Foundry, and, through Berkeley’s new ATEC initiative, help with team building, CEO recruiting, legal/business questions, investor connections, and possible pre-seed financing on founder-favorable terms.
• Sonsini’s stated view: “At its core, this program is about advancing technology that serves the public good.”
• His philanthropic/investment lens, from the Giving Pledge letter with Lisa Sonsini, currently seeks to “promote economic mobility and to leverage technology for good.”