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Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week + 5 Overlooked MUST Do to Raise Funding in 2025

Recap of our Tesla Holiday Party + Upcoming Founders/VC DJ Party

Table of Contents

Hi!

I’m currently at Opal’s Alternative Investment conference in LA. I just spoke on a panel about AI trends and of course I ended up speaking about increasing capital to women founders. In a world where women start 50% of all business in the US and 35% of tech companies, we’re still receiving less than 2% of funding so it’s about time we all come together and raise awareness so that we can have a truly diverse tech ecosystem.

I’m super excited about next week as I’ll be hosting an EPIC Holiday Party where you’ll get a chance to test drive a cybertruck and listen to amazing music. We sold out of the free ticket for the event but if you’d like to attend for free, join our Premium membership. In the spirit of the holiday, I’m giving it away for 50% off today only!

Next week I’m super excited to be hosting an EPIC Holiday Party where you’ll get a chance to test drive a cybertruck and listen to amazing music.

If you haven’t done so, please connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram for exclusive insights and content about startups, investments, and diversity!

We partnered with TheAgentic to provide you with expertise to build your entire AI-powered application from scratch to production. ThAgentic dev team has built an LLM. This has resulted in them building a deep expertise and low-level understanding of how AI Agents and LLMs truly work. Now, they’re leveraging that knowledge to help you build your AI product from scratch for less than $10k. Book a call today: https://scheduler.zoom.us/theagentic-ai/demo

Want us to feature your event on the list? Add it here

Dec 12 - 6pm - 9pm

Founders Bay and Seed Through Series invite you to an exclusive evening panel crafted for founders aiming to build and scale efficiently by leveraging AI and lean Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies as critical growth levers.

Dec 13 - 6pm - 9pm

Celebrate the holiday season with Founders Bay and be part of a momentous occasion—the official launch of TheAgentic, the latest innovation in AI!

What to Expect:

  • 🍹 Open Bar – Sip on craft cocktails, premium drinks, and festive refreshments

  • 🎶 Live DJ & Bands – Dance to electric DJ beats and enjoy live performances from talented bands.

  • 🚘 Exclusive Tesla Test Drives – Get behind the wheel of the Cybertruck, Model Y and Model 3 for an exhilarating experience.

  • 🍴 Gourmet Bites – Savor a curated selection of delicious food and treats.

  • Connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram for exclusive insights and content about startups, investments, and diversity. Let’s grow together!

  • Want to add your event to the list? Submit it here.

🗓️ Monday, Dec 9

👉 AGI @ MICROSOFT (1:00 PM - 4:30 PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 We’re thrilled to welcome you to our event tomorrow evening, featuring a stellar lineup!
Important Note: Only registered attendees may join; no walk-ups. Please allow ample time for parking, sign-in, and locating the venue.
Kick off the evening by connecting with leading industry figures, founders, and investors.

👉 Awesome AI Dev Tools - December (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Learn about the incredible AI dev tools being worked on.
Note: Include your first and last name when registering to ensure entry.

👉 European Innovation Council(EIC) Immersion Landing Clean Tech Cohort (5:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Featuring 15 top startups selected by EIC. Join the pitch event at 5:00 PM to meet innovative leaders and explore cutting-edge cleantech.

👉 San Francisco AI Founder and VC Networking (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Meet vetted founders, investors, and operators in the AI ecosystem.

👉 Slow Money Holiday Mixer and Marketplace (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Network with food & farming entrepreneurs while enjoying light hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

🗓️ Tuesday, Dec 10

👉 Founders Run & Coffee! (7:00 AM - 9:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join early-morning run followed by coffee with the startup community.

👉 Disrupt & Dominate: Webinar for Bold Executives in San Francisco! (8:00 AM - 10:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Learn strategies for lead conversion, financial control, tax mastery, and leveraging AI.

👉 Light DAO Holiday Social (5:00 PM - 7:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with leaders focused on AI for good.

👉 Open Source AI With SambaNova & Hugging Face (5:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Connect with AI founders and VCs at this Open Source AI event.

👉 AI Showcase: Revolutionizing the Service Industry (5:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore tech transforming the service industry and improving lives.

👉 X-mas Celebration & Learnings (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 An evening of learning and celebration with Carta & Puzzle.

👉 Founders & Funders (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 Los Gatos
💬 A vibrant platform for founders and investors to connect. [Hosted by Me]

👉 AI in Production + Real Time AI Panels and Demos (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Panels on AI in production and real-time AI.

👉 Vanta & SG Fireside Chat (5:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Insights from Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo on scaling to $100M ARR.

👉 LangChain Fireside Chat (6:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Lessons from scaling consumer AI with LangChain.

👉 AI Hustle: Happy Hour for Startup Founders & VCs (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Network and explore the AI landscape.

👉 JFE SF Holiday Mixer (6:30 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Holiday tech networking in the Jewish community.

🗓️ Wednesday, Dec 11

👉 HeyGen x GenAI Hackathon (9:00 AM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Exclusive AI video generation hackathon.

👉 Alexandr Wang Fireside Chat (2:30 PM - 4:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Hear from the Scale AI founder on advancements in AI.

👉 MLOps Community Holiday Party (5:00 PM - 10:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate achievements in AI/ML with practitioners and innovators.

👉 Document ETL for RAG (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Insights on Elastic and document parsing.

👉 People in Food! Holiday Party (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with food industry innovators.

👉 Silicon Valley AI Think Tank: Women In AI (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Explore themes of responsible AI and workforce transformation.

👉 AI Builders Social (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Monthly networking for AI innovators and founders.

👉 Hack localhost Meetup (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Hands-on hacking session for builders.

🗓️ Thursday, Dec 12

👉 Practical Workshop by Startup Valley: Perfect Your Pitch (6:00 AM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A workshop to refine pitching skills and address business challenges collaboratively.

👉 USCIS Career Fair in San Francisco, CA (10:00 AM - 3:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Learn about meaningful careers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

👉 The Creative Frontier: Innovation Across Art & Industry (12:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore the intersection of urban culture, blockchain, and tech innovation.

👉 AI in Supply Chain and Manufacturing (4:30 PM - 7:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Discuss future innovations in supply chain and manufacturing with industry leaders.

👉 🎄 Pre-Christmas Asado 🥩 (5:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with South American-style asado and empanadas.

👉 The Generative Browser Summit: Intelligence & Interfaces (5:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Keynotes and demos exploring the future of intelligent web interfaces.

👉 Gentrace Holiday Party! (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with the Gentrace community while learning about LLM evaluation tools.

👉 Book Celebration! Digital Wellbeing with Caitlin Krause (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Engage in discussions on mindfulness, creativity, and wellbeing.

👉 Ai Salon & BlueDot Impact (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore AI's societal impact, alignment, and governance.

👉 Women Tech Meetup X-Mas Party w/Fidelity Private Shares 🎄🥂 (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Highlighting immigrant female founders' journeys and celebrating their success.

👉 Private Xmas VC / Startup Champagne Party (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Exclusive networking event for investors and founders.

👉 The Future of Work with AI: Innovation & Transformation (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Discuss how AI is transforming industries and work culture.

👉 ANNUAL AAPI HOLIDAY MIXER (5:30 PM - 10:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Network with the AAPI community and celebrate the year-end.

👉 Optimizing RAG: Leveraging Re-ranking and LLMs (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Technical dives into improving search accuracy using advanced AI techniques.

👉 Product Video Happy Hour (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Learn how to create standout product videos for 2025.

👉 Founders & VCs: Building Revenue Through Strategic Partnerships (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore how partnerships in MedTech, Biotech, and AI drive innovation and growth.

👉 Silicon Valley >< Capetown Bridge Event (SV Panel) (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 null
💬 Connect Silicon Valley's top minds with Capetown’s startup community.

👉 Design Holiday Party (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with the design community through networking and a raffle.

👉 Founders & VCs: AI Go-To-Market & Product Market Fit Panels (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 San Francisco
💬 Actionable insights for founders to scale with AI and efficient GTM strategies.

👉 Go-To-Market Evening For Founders (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 San Francisco
💬 Experts share best practices for GTM strategies and customer acquisition.

👉 Brex SF Tech Holiday Party (6:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate with Brex and SF's tech movers and shakers.

👉 2024 Hardware Holiday Party @ Studio 55 (6:30 PM - 9:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Hardware demos, holiday drinks, and seasonal bites for Bay Area hardware enthusiasts.

🗓️ Friday, Dec 13

👉 A Merry Winter Wonderland (8:00 AM - 10:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A fundraiser for homeless families transitioning into permanent housing, hosted by the San Francisco Association of REALTORS® Foundation.

👉 📣 Aiify.io & Ontology of Value: AI x Future of Work (v.3); with Fetch.ia (1:00 PM - 7:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore AI's impact on the labor market, with insights into productivity-enhancing AI tools.

👉 Climate AI Forum (1:30 PM - 4:30 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 A gathering to optimize AI's potential in combating climate change, with experts and innovators.

👉 From Scaling Startups to Successful Exits and Shaping Ventures: Insights from a Serial Entrepreneur Turned VC (4:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Exclusive event for founders and investors exploring AI-driven startup success stories.

👉 ♟️🎄 Chess Hackathon: Train AI Chess Bots on GPUs (6:00 PM - 11:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Compete to build the best AI chess bots using advanced GPU clusters.

👉 AI Holiday Party x TheAgentic Launch @ Tesla (6:00 PM - 11:00 PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 San Francisco
💬 Celebrate the holidays and the launch of TheAgentic, with Founders Bay at Tesla.

👉 BOLLYWOOD - ALL WHITE HOLIDAY PARTY @ EVE Night Club | SF | DEC 13 (10:00 PM - 2:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Bollywood hits and holiday vibes with DJs K and RAAG at EVE Night Club.

🗓️ Saturday, Dec 14

👉 Founders Running Club :: San Francisco (9:30 AM - 11:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join founders and tech enthusiasts for a run, followed by coffee and networking.

👉 ai + global health 24hr hack @ studio 45 (mission) with gxza health (9:30 AM - 2:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Tackle global health challenges with innovative technology in this collaborative hackathon.

👉 Pawsomic Saturday: Paws, People, and Big Ideas (10:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A dog-friendly networking event for tech founders and enthusiasts.

👉 BASH- Bay Area & Sacramento Short Film Festival 2024- Part 3 (11:00 AM - 5:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A showcase of short films from Bay Area and Sacramento creators.

👉 BAPN Community Gathering and Potluck in Dolores Park (12:00 PM - 5:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A winter potluck for members and friends of the Bay Area Psychedelic Network.

👉 San Francisco Ugly Sweater Bar Crawl (12:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Don your ugliest sweater for a festive bar crawl through SF's best spots.

👉 San Francisco Santa Bar Crawl (1:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Spread holiday cheer in your Santa suit while exploring festive bars.

👉 Chinatown SF Neon Walking Tour 12/14 (4:00 PM - 5:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Explore the city’s neon sign history in this immersive walking tour.

🗓️ Sunday, Dec 15

👉 🌟 AI for Sales Roundtable (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A discussion on how AI is transforming sales and product strategies.

👉 $25K+ MRR or $500K+ Impact Entrepreneurs, Active Investors & Influencers Private Dinner Party (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 A networking dinner for entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders reshaping industries.

🗓️ Monday, Dec 16

👉 AGI @ MICROSOFT (1:00 PM - 4:30 PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 We’re thrilled to welcome you to our event, we have a stellar lineup!

👉 Ai Salon: Beauty (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 AI's influence on beauty standards and perceptions raises questions about the future of aesthetics, both digital and human. 2024 even saw the first "AI beauty pageant" — suggesting that our ideas and standards of natural beauty are merging with the artificial. As AI algorithms shape our online experiences and generative AI creates idealized images, how might this transform our understanding of beauty?

👉 B2B SaaS Founder & Investor Holiday Mixer (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an exclusive evening celebrating the SaaS community. Connect with founders, investors, and innovators in a festive atmosphere filled with insights, stories, and meaningful networking.

🗓️ Tuesday, Dec 17

👉 AI can help humans find common ground in democratic deliberation (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Finding agreement through a free exchange of views is often difficult. Collective deliberation can be slow, difficult to scale, and unequally attentive to different voices. Using participants’ personal opinions and critiques, the AI mediator iteratively generates and refines statements that express common ground among the group on social or political issues.

👉 Online Workshop: Fundraising For Pre-Seed/Seed Startups (3:00 PM - 4:00 PM) [HOSTED BY ME]
📍 Virtaul
💬 Learn strategies for raising early-stage startup funding in this online session.

👉 We The Builders: Ft. Qasar Younis, Founder & CEO Applied Intuition (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 We are excited to host Qasar Younis for a fireside chat. More details to come.

👉 AI x Tax Roundtable: A Taste of Tomorrow (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for a laid-back evening of great food, even better company, and exciting conversations with some of our favorite – and most forward-thinking – tax and accounting leaders.

🗓️ Wednesday, Dec 18

👉 $25K+ MRR or $500K+ AI Agent Founders, Active Investors & Influencers Private Dinner Party 😎 (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 🌟 Ready to take your AI agent venture to the next level? Join a select network of founders generating $25k+ in MRR and driving the future of AI innovation.

👉 Unicorn Battle in Silicon Valley (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 This event is part of the one-day Sand Hill Acceleration Program:

👉 The Multiverse Christmas Party (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Join us for an unforgettable evening of festive fun, great conversations, and holiday cheer at The Multiverse Christmas Party.

👉 Global Founders Networking (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Get ready to network and meet global founders, investors, and operators at Immigrant Founders Networking hosted by Qlay and Open Network Lab (ONLab).

👉 🧠 The Thought Experiment Lab [public] (6:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 "Imagination without reason is mere fancy, but reason without imagination is sterile."

👉 AI Wednesdays - For Startup Founders & Engineers - Out of the Barrel (6:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 Campbell
💬 Most of us are startup founders or engineers working with artificial intelligence.

🗓️ Thursday, Dec 19

👉 Seed+ Founders and Investors Networking & Holiday Mixer (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 This event has specific criteria.

👉 SF Meetup with Health Tech Nerds (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Oakland
💬 A casual happy hour for folks working or interested in healthcare/health tech.

👉 Ho Ho HODL 🎅 A Bullish Holiday Party with Constellation, Base, and Sui (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 With the year ending on a bull market, celebrate with a party!

👉 Bay Area Creator Economy Community Holiday Party (6:30 PM - 9:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Jingle and mingle at our annual holiday bash!

I’m talking about my founder journey and why I care so much about diversity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfZUOqL1izY

The Week 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

  1. Tenstorrent, $693M, semiconductor
    💻 Sector: Semiconductor
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $693 million in Series D funding, valuing the company at $2.6 billion.

    • Investors include Samsung Securities, AFW Partners, Bezos Expeditions, and Fidelity Management & Research Co.

    • Funds to be used for expanding global AI development centers, building systems, and developing open-source AI software stacks.

    • Total funding: Over $1 billion.

  2. Nuvig Therapeutics, $161M, biotech
    💻 Sector: Biotech
    💬 Details:

    • Secured $161 million in Series B funding co-led by Sanofi Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, and Norwest Venture Partners.

    • Focuses on immunomodulatory therapeutics for inflammatory autoimmune diseases, with a therapy entering Phase 2 clinical development.

    • Total funding: $208 million.

  3. Heirloom, $150M, carbon capture
    💻 Sector: Climate Tech
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $150 million in Series B funding led by Future Positive and Lowercarbon Capital.

    • Uses modified limestone for direct air carbon capture.

    • Positioned during a surge in investments in carbon capture technologies.

    • Total funding: $204 million.

  4. Tractian, $120M, manufacturing AI
    💻 Sector: Manufacturing AI
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $120 million in Series C funding led by Sapphire Ventures.

    • Offers AI-powered solutions for industrial maintenance to reduce unplanned downtime.

    • Total funding: Over $180 million.

  5. Maze Therapeutics, $115M, biotech
    💻 Sector: Biotech
    💬 Details:

    • Completed $115 million Series D co-led by Deep Track Capital and Frazier Life Sciences.

    • Focuses on medicines for renal, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases.

    • Total funding: $496 million.

  6. Cleerly, $106M, healthcare
    💻 Sector: Healthcare
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $106 million in Series C extension led by Insight Partners.

    • Specializes in cardiovascular imaging technologies.

    • Total funding: Nearly $387 million.

  7. Public, $105M, fintech
    💻 Sector: Fintech
    💬 Details:

    • Secured $105 million equity in a $135 million Series D-2 financing round led by Accel.

    • Developing AI-enabled research features for its investment platform.

    • Total funding: Over $300 million.

  8. Upwind Security, $100M, cybersecurity
    💻 Sector: Cybersecurity
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $100 million led by Craft Ventures, valuing the company at $900 million.

    • Focuses on cloud security solutions for data-heavy enterprises.

    • Total funding: $180 million.

  9. AMP Robotics, $91M, recycling AI
    💻 Sector: Recycling AI
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $91 million in Series D led by Congruent Ventures.

    • Develops AI-powered waste and recycling sortation systems.

    • Total funding: $266 million.

  10. Axiado Corp., $60M, cybersecurity
    💻 Sector: Cybersecurity
    💬 Details:

    • Raised $60 million in Series C led by Maverick Silicon.

    • Focuses on hardware security solutions.

    • Total funding: $105 million.

Managing Partner, Founders bay

Hi! I'm Mariane Bekker, an investor and a tech executive with over a decade of experience building high-performing engineering teams at leading startups such as New Relic and Mindbody. I've led engineering through 5 acquisitions and 1 IPO. 

I’m the founder of Founders bay and Women Founders bay, connecting founders with expert guidance, events and funding opportunities in the Bay Area.

Understanding Cap Tables: A Guide for Early-Stage Startup Founders

By Mariane Bekker

For early-stage startup founders, navigating the world of fundraising and equity distribution is overwhelming. One crucial element to understand is the concept of a cap table. A cap table, short for capitalization table, is a fundamental document that outlines the ownership structure and equity distribution of a company.

In this blog post, we will dive into the essentials of cap tables, explaining their importance, key components, and how they evolve during the various stages of a startup's growth.

What is a Cap Table, and Why is it Important?

A cap table is a spreadsheet or electronic record that details the ownership interests in a company, including the allocation of shares, options, warrants, and other equity instruments. It serves as a visual representation of who owns what percentage of the company, providing transparency and clarity regarding equity distribution.

Understanding a cap table is crucial for startup founders for several reasons:

Equity Management: A cap table helps founders keep track of equity ownership among co-founders, employees, and investors, ensuring a fair distribution of ownership.

Valuation and Dilution: Cap tables enable founders to assess the impact of future fundraising rounds on their ownership percentage and valuation, helping them make informed decisions.

Investor Relations: Investors often scrutinize a startup's cap table to evaluate the ownership structure, potential dilution, and alignment of interests.

Key Components of a Cap Table:

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