Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week

Discover the latest events and a look at funding trends for Women in 2023

Author

Mariane Bekker
February 12, 2024

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

🗓 Monday (Feb 12)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 Networking, Drinks, and AI and ChatGPT conversations. Come and Meet Featured investors Sara Thomas Deshpande General Partner, Maven Ventures

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Infrastructure wants to collaborate with you to supercharge investments in America’s clean energy future and ensure an affordable, reliable, resilient, secure, and equitable clean energy transition.

📍 Mountain View

💬 Hacker Dojo is pleased to welcome Eric Bahn, Co-Founder and General Partner of Hustle Fund. In this fireside chat, we'll discuss the recently released Raise Millions: The Ultimate Guide to Fundraising for First Time Founders, written by Tam Phan in partnership with Hustle Fund, and what lessons first time Founders can learn to help their fundraising efforts. Light snacks will be available, refreshments to follow.

🗓 Tuesday (Feb 13)

📍 Menlo Park

💬 Entrepreneurs, startup founders, technologists, VCs and angel investors, please join our informal coffee time gathering hangout

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​South Park Commons is delighted to host Josh Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Gusto, as part of our -1 to Now series! Please join us to hear Josh's journey and how Gusto is reimagining HR for top companies.

📍 Plug and Play, Sunnyvale

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​LLM evaluation is a discipline where confusion reigns and foundation model builders are effectively grading their own homework.

📍 Los Gatos

💬 Throwing together a casual event for folks near Los Gatos to get together and connect - Absolutely no pretense of any sort other than hoping to build community among people doing cool things and living the good life outside of the big city.

📍 Santa Clara

💬 Discover Advances In Deep Learning Advanced ML And The Latest Real-World Applications Of AI

🗓 Wednesday (Feb 14)

📍 San Mateo

💬 Draper wants to continue to invest in 3-4 companies a year. Pure hard tech. One of them is building a humanoid robot, one is launching satellites and one of them is building electric sea gliders for transport.

🗓 Thursday (Feb 15)

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​This Valentine's Day, forget about roses and chocolates – it's time to find your startup soulmate! Are you an innovator looking for your business better-half? Or a creative genius seeking your operational yin to your yang? Then this is the rendezvous for you!

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​Join us for the first ever Founder and Investor matchmaking session presented by Creators Corner. This event brings together an amazing group of curated startups to connect with a diverse group of investors from different verticals.

📍 Sunnyvale

💬 Join us for an exciting Indian tech gathering at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA, USA! Get ready to connect with like-minded Indian tech enthusiasts, industry professionals and investors. This in-person event is a fantastic opportunity to network, share ideas, and stay updated on the latest trends in the tech world. Whether you're a seasoned expert or just starting your tech journey, this event is for you! Come and be a part of the vibrant Indian tech community. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn, collaborate, and have a great time!

📍 San Francisco

💬 Gathering for the Smart Venture Podcast amazing guests, friends in the VC/ startup space, and listeners to the show. I am fortunate to partner with the fantastic Convivialité Ventures and Flagstar Bank for our first IRL event.

📍 Berkeley

💬 ​I’m excited to officially introduce Pear VC into our community! Join us Thursday February 15th for a fun night exploring How (Not) to Pitch feat. Eddie Eltoukhy, Biotech Partner at Pear VC. We’ll dissect and rebuild common mistakes from hundreds of pitches through memes, call out yellow flags, and demonstrate a pitch in both its flawed and elevated forms.

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​​Join us on Thursday, Feb 15th, for a YC founders meetup and panel co-hosted by Codi and Nowadays! Connect with new faces, enjoy some drinks and tune into an exciting conversation about scaling your team and managing your board. Open to non-YC founders too :)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Ever wondered how AI could help us predict health risks based on our genes, or how it might unravel the mysteries of our ancestry with just a few strands of DNA? Curious about the ways AI could uncover hidden patterns in our genetic code or trace our roots back through centuries? Well, grab your curious mood and join us for a chill discussion on the incredible ways AI is shaping the future of genetics and genealogy!

📍 Pleasanton

💬 Come and Meet Featured investor: Vasudha Badri-Paul

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for an exciting in-person event where innovative startups will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors. This event will be held at Broadway Studios. It's a great chance to network with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts. Don't miss out on the chance to witness the next big thing in the startup world! Come and be inspired by the passion and creativity of these aspiring entrepreneurs. Get ready to be amazed!

🗓 Friday (Feb 16)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 Moon Creative Lab is hosting a networking breakfast and open house on Friday, February 16 that’s open to all startups, corporations, and friends of the startup ecosystem. Moon Creative Lab, co-headquartered in Palo Alto and Tokyo, was first established in 2018 as a venture studio to deliver human-centered new business creation for the Mitsui & Co. group. Since then, Moon has expanded to help external startups and corporations launch, grow, and invest in new businesses.

📍 Mountain View

💬 Bootstrappers Breakfast® meeting is for entrepreneurs of early stage technology startups. It is a chance to compare notes on operational, development, and business issues with peers. These breakfasts were designed for entrepreneurs to share ideas and leverage thoughts with other folks who are serious about growing their business.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Welcome to a transformative lecture that explores the dynamic synergy between Lean Startup, Design Thinking, and Agile methodologies. In a world where innovation, user-centric design, and rapid adaptation are paramount, this lecture sheds light on how these three powerful approaches can work harmoniously to drive successful projects and ventures.

📍 Burlingame

💬 Join us for an afternoon where influential female founders and insightful investors share, connect, and inspire.​This mixer is your canvas for 2024 – a place to paint your goals, network with purpose, and find the support and inspiration needed for the year ahead. Whether you want to expand your business, seek investment, or collaborate with like-minded women, this event is for you.

📍 San Francisco

💬 We are hosting casual gatherings with tech start-up founders, offering networking opportunities to find partners, clients, investors, or like-minded friends.

🗓 Saturday (Feb 17)

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​Hex and Modelbit are excited to host a day-long public data hackathon at the Hex HQ in SF. Come dive into carefully curated datasets, learn to use Hex and Modelbit for data exploration and machine learning, and build data apps that'll blow people's minds.

🗓 Sunday (Feb 18)

📍 Sunnyvale

💬 Join us for an interactive workshop hosted by Homestead FBLA and guest speaker Donna Griffit, an entrepreneur and corporate marketing consultant. Learn about Donna’s experience in the startup world and how to craft your ideas into a compelling story towards investors and customers. There will also be a book signing at the end of the presentation, where participants can network and interact with the author Donna Griffit.

A Look at Funding Trends For Women in 2023 🚀

As we kickstart another year of innovation and growth, it's crucial to reflect on the state of funding and support for women-led businesses. Here are some insightful numbers from 2023 that shed light on the progress and challenges we face:

  1. Funding Raised by All-Women Teams: In 2023, all-women teams raised $3.1 billion in funding.

    While this represents a significant amount, it's essential to note that it accounted for only 1.8% of all funding. This figure marks a slight decrease from 2.1% in 2021. While the decrease is disappointing, it highlights the continued need for advocacy and support for women entrepreneurs in accessing capital.

  2. Funding Raised by Mixed-Gender Teams: Mixed-gender teams secured 26.1% of all funding in 2023, an increase from 18.2% in 2022. This statistic underscores the importance of diversity and collaboration in driving innovation and securing investment. It's a reminder that fostering inclusive work environments and diverse teams can lead to greater success and impact in the startup landscape.

  3. Top Cities for Funding for Female-founded Companies: New York emerged as the top city for funding in 2023, closely followed by San Francisco and Los Angeles.

  4. Top Industries for Female-founded Companies: Software led the pack as the top industry for funding in 2023, followed by B2B, SaaS, Pharmacy, and Bio.

There is still much ground to cover in achieving gender parity in the startup ecosystem. We must continue to advocate for policies and initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship. By fostering an environment that supports women founders, we can unlock untapped potential, drive economic growth, and create a more inclusive future for all.

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 passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry and helping founders succeed. That's why I founded Upward, an agency specializing in assisting early-stage startups find and hire top local engineering talent.