Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week

Upcoming Events & The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Author

Mariane Bekker
July 07, 2024

Table of Contents

AI Agents 2.0 Hackathon by MultiOn & AgentOps [I’m Co-hosting]

Saturday July 20 - Sunday July 21

​Attention Gen AI developers and hackers! We're thrilled to invite you to the era of Agents 2.0 - reliable, observable & safe agents 🔥

​Join us for a two-day long AI hackathon hosted by MultiOn & AgentOps to discover what is now possible using Agents and build the future of AI!

Thursday July 18, 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Join AWS, Hubspot, Silicon Valley Impact, & DuploCloud for an AI panel discussion and an evening of networking and knowledge sharing.

If you’re an AI Founder, RSVP Here for free: https://lu.ma/pqlvaotf

Thursday July 20, 2:00pm - 7:00pm

​Take an afternoon off for some fun in the sun with like-minded people who care about creating and promoting AI systems for social good. 

Networking events are a great way to meet fellow founders and investors. Here are events happening in San Francisco this week for founders.

🗓️ Monday, Jul 8

👉 AI Investors & Networking (4:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 We are Open Future Forum. We are leaders, investors, founders and engineers based in the Bay Area CA.

👉 Global Startup Landscape Dinner (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 This is a golden opportunity to gain insights from seasoned entrepreneurs and investors, network with like-minded professionals, and dive deep into the trends shaping the future of startups. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur, a seasoned founder, or just passionate about innovation, this event is for you!

👉 Product Hunt Demo Night @ Solaris AI (6:30 PM - 11:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Product Hunt + Solaris AI demo night is back! ​We'll have 5-7 demos, 3-5 minutes each, in a conversational style, no slides (I will moderate and ask questions).

🗓️ Tuesday, Jul 9

👉 The Startup Founder's Guide to Demos: A Customer-Centric Approach (9:30 AM - 1:30 PM)
📍 Online
💬 Sales demos are a critical step in the sales process for startups. They're your chance to showcase your product's value and convince potential customers to buy. But many founders struggle to create demos that effectively convert interest into sales, especially technical founders who may be more comfortable with the intricacies of the product than explaining its value proposition to a non-technical audience.

👉 Meet your VCs, Meet your startup teams: entrepreneurs' networking coffee time (11:00 AM - 4:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Entrepreneurs, startup founders, technologists, VCs and angel investors, please join our informal coffee time gathering hangout.

👉 Code/Collab/Connect Coworking Day (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join us for a day of coding, collaboration, and connection at the Code/Collab/Connect Coworking Day hosted by MindsDB.

👉 AI Hack Night at GitHub (4:00 PM - 12:00 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​​Join us for another incredibly fun Hack Night at GitHub! We've got five excellent companies joining us for this Hack Night, and it's going to be super fun!

👉 Future of UX [AI + AR] Interfaces for a New Era: Summer Bash Oakland (5:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 Oakland
💬 Join our Summer Bash, with drinks, cool vibes and great music in Port Labs’ HQ in Uptown Oakland (a quick 20min BART ride from SF), where Carlos Mats, CEO & Designer of IKA.ai, and Mukul Agarwal, Lead Designer at Roblox (previously Amazon), will engage in a discussion about where we're heading in terms of Human-Machine interaction, and what we're doing about it.

👉 Consumer & Culture SF (5:30 PM - 11:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Patron & Intuition are delighted to gather founders in SF and spend an evening with folks who share the same delusional love for consumer 💖

🗓️ Wednesday, Jul 10

👉 Startup Founders: Take the Guesswork Out of Fundraising (10:00 AM - 2:30 PM)
📍 San Jose
💬 We’re launching the next version of Adamant Fundraising. It’s the result of all we’ve learned from Fundraise with Confidence (RIP!) in a simpler and more accessible format.

👉 AI & The Art of Customer Understanding w/ Asana, Anecdote and Notion (5:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​​Join Anecdote for an in-person meet-up at the Race Capital offices in San Francisco all about using the Voice of the Customer to create better products and the best customer experiences. Hear leading Bay Area product and CX leaders speak candidly about how they’re using AI to truly understand what their customers want built.

👉 San Francisco AI Investors & Networking (5:30 PM - 11:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Come and Meet Featured investors ​Featured investor: ​Stephen Gibson, ​Founder of PAIR PR

👉 🍻 Palo Alto Founders & Investors Summer Social (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 We're bringing together local tech leaders and founders for a night of fun conversations and genuine connection. Leave the pitch deck at home, this is a no-selling event - we're here to foster friendship.

👉 AI For Marketers #16 (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for our AI for monthly Marketers event! Learn how to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence to transform your marketing strategies. Discover how AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Hugging Face and Midjourney can improve content generation, data-driven marketing, marketing automation, digital marketing, and AI for social media.

👉 Narratives that lead: Mastering Storytelling for Female Founders by Women in AI Club & ScaleGrowth AI (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an inspiring evening at the Modernist Club in San Francisco as ​Women in AI Club and ScaleGrowth AI join forces to present "Narratives That Lead: Mastering Storytelling for AI Founders." This unique event is designed to empower Women AI Founders by exploring the transformative power of storytelling in shaping their journeys, driving the success of AI startups, and leading the industry.

👉 Jumping Into Python (6:30 PM - 10:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 THIS EVENT IS FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVE IN-PERSON. OUR OFFICE'S CAPACITY WILL STOP AT 100. Want to learn more about Python and meet other Pythonistas? Join us at Airbyte as we host the local Python Meetup.

👉 Silicon Valley Founders and Entrepreneurs Business Networking Mixer! (7:00 PM - 11:30 PM)
📍 Redwood City
💬 Join us to network, socialize and connect with other startup founders and entrepreneurs!

🗓️ Thursday, Jul 11

👉 THE LLM & AI Observability Conference
📍 San Francisco
💬 You don’t want to miss this year’s premier event for building AI-powered applications and improving quality and performance once in production. BART, Uber, or fly in for the latest research, real-world insights from AI builders, and battle-tested tips from cutting-edge teams working on gen AI

👉 Silicon Valley Summer Tech Mixer - Founders | Builders | Investors Meetup + Tesla Demos!
📍 Palo Alto
💬 ​Come join us for an afternoon of networking and insightful panel discussions at our Silicon Valley Summer Tech Mixer! Whether you're a seasoned tech professional or just starting out, this event is the perfect opportunity to connect with others in the industry. Enjoy drinks, refreshments, and great conversations with like-minded individuals. Don't miss out on this chance to expand your network and make new friends.

👉 CODAME ART+TECH | July Builders Opening (SF)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join CODAME builders gathering to solidify the program CODAME ART+TECH Festival (2024) #Essence; which will be celebrated for the whole month of October; all over San Francisco and the world 🫶🌍👾💜 No matter where you are you can Join Us as an event host, artist, volunteer, or sponsor!

👉 Agrifood and Climate - Hard-Tech Innovation with Corporate Japan
📍 Oakland
💬 ​Breakthroughs in Agrifood technology are occurring worldwide, with new chemical processing and biotech innovations combining with automation and AI to give traditionally expensive solutions a chance at profitability.

👉 AI Tinkerers
📍 San Francisco
💬 Hang with SF’s top AI engineers, hackers, researchers, and technical founders.

👉 GenAI Collective 🧠 The Diversity AI Forum
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join the GenAI Collective and a host of AI professionals from diverse communities, including the Black, Latinx, Asian, and LGBTQ+ communities! 🙌 ​Listen to guest speakers and panelists discuss how they are using AI in the job market, developing AI tools and programs that promote inclusion, and how AI and inclusion benefits everyone. 🤝

👉 YC Summer Kickoff by Structured
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join us for an evening with free drinks and appetizers @Startup HQ's Clubhouse!

👉 Immigrant Founders Explorer Event with On Deck & Lighthouse
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​On Deck's Explorer events are curated, intimate gatherings of talented folks who are exploring starting a company in the next three months.

🗓️ Friday, Jul 12

👉 Pitch & Run SF 8a Friday Runs!
📍 San Francisco
💬 ## ​​​​Pitch and Run was founded in New York City in 2019 to make it easy for founders to connect with angels and VCs without the pressure of a pitch meeting, plus allow founders and startup employees to connect with each other.

👉 Qualcomm Developer Trial
📍 Santa Clara
💬 Join the Qualcomm Developer Trial hosted in collaboration with the San Francisco AI Meetup Group. You will get the opportunity to experiment with Qualcomm Technologies' latest IoT platform and Qualcomm Linux. You will then come back two weeks later to discuss your experience and share insights.

👉 Network with AI CTOs and Deep-tech Researchers
📍 Palo Alto
💬 ​Our goal is to bring together deep-tech researchers from both academic and industry backgrounds, as well as VCs interested in the deep-tech domain. This event fosters collaboration and networking among these diverse groups, facilitating the exchange of ideas and the formation of new partnerships.

👉 Gemini 1.5 vs. Claude 3.5 vs. GPT 4o
📍 Mountain View
💬 Let's compare Gemini 1.5 to Claude 3.5 to GPT 4o!

👉 Canadian Founders in SF
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Join us for an inspiring and informative gathering of Canadian entrepreneurs who have made their mark in San Francisco's vibrant startup scene. Whether you are a seasoned founder or just embarking on your entrepreneurial journey, this event is the perfect opportunity to connect with peers who share your roots and your aspirations.

🗓️ Saturday, Jul 13

👉 Startups Mentorship Program
📍Online
💬 If you are planning to start a startup business and have no idea what steps to be taken in order to make this startup business successful.

👉 Founders Running Club :: Easy 5-10km Run + Talks
📍 San Francisco
💬 We run 5K and 10K with a few pace groups available, or you can choose your own pace and cover custom distance. The most important thing is that we start together and finish at the café. We run at conversational pace, chat along the way, and then we grab coffee together and continue networking.

👉 Society of Agents Hackathon 🤖🤖
📍 Menlo Park
💬 ​Get ready for a day of fun, creativity, and tech magic at the Society of Agents Hackathon! Join us at Incepto House on July 13th from 10 AM to 10 PM for an unforgettable adventure in the world of AI.

👉 Hardcore CUDA Hackathon
📍 San Francisco
💬 All talks and projects MUST be written in CUDA Every hardcore hacker gets a H100 for the day.

👉 Qualcomm Developer Networking Event
📍 San Francisco
💬 The San Francisco AI Meetup Group is hosting an upcoming Developer Networking Event sponsored by Qualcomm. This event is limited to 200 people. RSVP now before it's too late. Qualcomm Technologies is one of the largest companies within the semiconductor space. The company specializes in creating products for processors, modems, platforms, RF systems, and connectivity, etc. They also offer a variety of AI-focused chips, hardware, mobile, and cloud products.

Are you looking to organize an event for your startup?

We can co-host and plan out your events with the Founders Bay Community.

Email me at [email protected]!

🚀 An AI Cheat Sheet

By Mariane Bekker

AI is a rapidly evolving field that has transformed numerous industries and continues to shape our future. However, navigating the world of AI can be daunting, especially with the abundance of buzzwords and technical jargon.

Here’s a comprehensive cheat sheet to help you decode AI buzzwords and understand their meanings:

  • Machine Learning (ML): Machine Learning is a branch of AI that focuses on enabling computers to learn and improve from data without explicit programming. ML algorithms are designed to recognize patterns, make predictions, and gain insights from vast amounts of data, enabling tasks such as image recognition, natural language processing, and recommendation systems.

  • Deep Learning: Deep Learning is a subset of ML that uses artificial neural networks inspired by the human brain. Deep Learning algorithms process data through multiple layers of interconnected nodes (neurons) to extract complex features and learn hierarchical representations. It has revolutionized tasks like computer vision, speech recognition, and language translation.

  • Neural Networks: Neural Networks are computing systems modeled after the human brain's interconnected network of neurons. They consist of input, hidden, and output layers, and the connections between them learn to recognize patterns and make predictions. Neural Networks are the foundation of many AI techniques, including Deep Learning.

  • Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP involves teaching computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. It enables tasks such as sentiment analysis, language translation, chatbots, and voice assistants. NLP techniques include text classification, named entity recognition, and language generation.

  • Computer Vision (CV): Computer Vision focuses on teaching computers to interpret and understand visual information from images or videos. It involves tasks like object detection, image recognition, facial recognition, and autonomous driving. Computer Vision algorithms use techniques like image segmentation, feature extraction, and object tracking.

  • Reinforcement Learning: Reinforcement Learning involves training agents to make decisions in dynamic environments through trial and error. Agents learn by interacting with the environment and receiving feedback in the form of rewards or penalties. Reinforcement Learning has been successful in autonomous robotics, game playing, and optimization problems.

  • Large Language Models (LLM): Large Language Models are AI models that leverage Deep Learning techniques to process and generate human-like text. These models have been trained on massive datasets and are capable of understanding and generating natural language with remarkable accuracy. They have applications in various domains, including language translation, content generation, and question answering.

  • Foundation Models: Foundation Models refer to powerful AI models that serve as the base for building more specialized and domain-specific models. These models are pre-trained on large-scale datasets and can be fine-tuned for specific tasks. Foundation Models provide a starting point for developers to create customized AI solutions with reduced training time and resources.

With this AI cheatsheet, you are equipped with the knowledge to decipher and understand the technical expressions that surround the field of Artificial Intelligence.

The 10 Biggest Funding Rounds Of June

Lots of big rounds last month, including two huge ones well over a half-billion dollars. While June started slow, it ended in a flurry of massive-money deals — making this list tough to crack.

1. Cruise

  • Sector: Autonomous Cars

  • Funding: $850M

  • Details: General Motors is doubling down on Cruise, investing another $850 million into the San Francisco-based startup. Cruise’s journey has seen significant highs and lows. In 2021, Cruise secured a record $2.75 billion round, valuing it over $30 billion. However, in early 2022, SoftBank withheld a promised $1.35 billion, prompting GM to acquire SoftBank’s equity stake in Cruise for $2.1 billion. Late last year, Cruise suspended its self-driving taxi program nationwide after losing its San Francisco permit due to a pedestrian incident. This came a year after Ford-backed Argo AI shut down despite raising $3.6 billion. Cruise is now restarting programs in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, as GM bets big on the future of autonomous driving and robotaxis.

2. AlphaSense

  • Sector: Artificial Intelligence

  • Funding: $650M

  • Details: AI-driven market intelligence platform AlphaSense raised $650 million in funding co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners at a $4 billion valuation, a 75% increase from nine months ago. As part of the deal, AlphaSense acquired expert research startup Tegus for $930 million. Last September, AlphaSense secured a $150 million Series E led by Bond Capital at a $2.5 billion valuation, following a $100 million round at a $1.8 billion valuation in April the previous year. The New York-based startup’s AI-powered market intelligence and search platform aids clients in forming corporate and investment strategies. Founded in 2011, AlphaSense has raised $1.4 billion, per Crunchbase.

3. Sila Nanotechnologies

  • Sector: Battery

  • Funding: $375M

  • Details: Alameda, California-based Sila Nanotechnologies raised a $375 million Series G led by existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures and funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The funds will help complete construction of its Moses Lake, Washington plant, scheduled for Q1 next year, for producing Titan Silicon anode material. Founded in 2011, Sila has raised $1.4 billion, per Crunchbase.

4. Formation Bio

  • Sector: Biotech

  • Funding: $372M

  • Details: Formation Bio, an AI-enhanced pharma company, raised a $372 million Series D led by a16z. Launched in 2016 as TrialSpark, the New York-based startup uses AI to accelerate drug development and clinical trials by integrating large language models and AI applications. Founded in 2013, Formation Bio has raised $528 million, per Crunchbase.

5. CData Software

  • Sector: Data Integration

  • Funding: $350M

  • Details: Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based CData Software raised a $350 million growth round led by Warburg Pincus, with participation from Accel. The company develops data products and connectivity solutions for access to live data from hundreds of on-premises and cloud applications. Founded in 2016, CData has raised $510 million, per Crunchbase.

6. Creatio

  • Sector: Customer Relationship Management

  • Funding: $200M

  • Details: Boston-based Creatio, a no-code platform for automating customer relationship management and enterprise workflows, achieved unicorn status after landing a $200 million round led by Sapphire Ventures. The funding, a minority investment, values Creatio at $1.2 billion and will help expand its global presence. The company is growing revenue by 50% year-to-year and has created a generative AI copilot to automate marketing and sales tasks. Founded in 2014, Creatio previously raised $68 million in 2021 in a round led by Volition Capital, per Crunchbase.

7. Foodsmart

  • Sector: Healthcare

  • Funding: $200M

  • Details: San Francisco-based Foodsmart raised $200 million in a round led by TPG’s global impact investing platform, The Rise Fund. The company offers a telenutrition and food benefits management platform, partnering with health plans and providers to offer affordable healthy eating options, virtual nutrition counseling, meal planning, and affordable food purchasing solutions. Founded in 2010, Foodsmart has raised nearly $315 million, per Crunchbase.

8. Marea Therapeutics

  • Sector: Biotech

  • Funding: $190M

  • Details: Marea Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing medicines for cardiometabolic diseases, launched with $190 million in combined Series A and B financing. The Series A was led by Third Rock Ventures, with the Series B co-led by Forbion Capital Partners, Perceptive Advisors, Sofinnova Investments, and VenBio Partners.

9. Sidecar Health

  • Sector: Healthcare

  • Funding: $165M

  • Details: El Segundo, California-based Sidecar Health raised $165 million in a Series D led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. The health insurance startup offers plans that eliminate the need for prior authorizations, referrals, and networks, allowing patients to choose their doctors. Founded in 2018, Sidecar Health has raised $328 million, per Crunchbase.

10. Huntress

  • Sector: Cybersecurity

  • Funding: $150M

  • Details: Maryland-based Huntress raised $150 million in a Series D at a valuation exceeding $1.5 billion. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins, Meritech Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures. Huntress provides cybersecurity services for small businesses to small enterprises, focusing on a market often overlooked by others targeting Fortune 500 companies. The company has seen over 70% year-to-year revenue growth for the past two years and is approaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Founded in 2015, Huntress has raised nearly $310 million, per Crunchbase.

CEO, Founders Bay

Hi! I'm Mariane Bekker, 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 Women Founders Bay, a community of tech female founders on a mission to increase funding going to women.