Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week

Upcoming Events & The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Author

Mariane Bekker
August 04, 2024

Table of Contents

AI + Marketing Tech Networking Event with Silverside AI [I’m speaking]

Thursday August 8 - 5:00PM - 9:00PM

​​​Join us for an exclusive AI + Marketing Tech event! This event will feature a dynamic panel discussion with prominent figures from the Marketing tech industry including strategic partners, investors & founders. We will also be providing food and drinks throughout the night.

Wednesday August 7 - 5:00PM - 8:00PM

✨✨It'll be a time to kick back and chill.

​---Building a start-up is hard & the roller coaster is real. By nature it's isolating especially in the early stages.

​---Hangout with folks in the trenches with you! Struggling with similar things & trying to achieve similar goals.

Step SF 2024: The AI & Tech Startup Conference [30% off with FOUNDERSBAY coupon]

Thursday August 15 - 9:00AM - 5:00PM

​Join us for a full-day of AI & Tech Startup Festival including Expo Area & Startup Showcases.

🗓️ Monday, Aug 5

👉 AI Investors & Networking (4:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Come and Meet Featured investors
Featured investor: Iris Sun 500 Global

👉 Product Hunt Demo Night @ Solaris AI (5:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Product Hunt + Solaris AI demo night is back!

👉 Unstructured Data Meetup SF (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Github will email you a form the day before the event, which you will need to complete for your access pass. Registration will close 2 days before the event.
​Topic: Connecting your unstructured data with Generative LLMs
​What we’ll do:
Have some food and refreshments. Hear three exciting talks about unstructured data and generative AI.

👉 Energy Happy Hour (6:00 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​​Calling all founders and energy enthusiasts! ⚡️ We're getting together for a casual happy hour to chat about energy space. Whatever you focus on, want to talk about, want to meet more of, or learn about is welcomed! Come join us for an evening of conversation, networking, and good beer. 🍻

👉 AI Art and Generative AI Happy Hour at the Beer Hall! (7:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Come chat with other people in the space about Generative AI and AI Art!

🗓️ Tuesday, Aug 6

👉 Vulnerability Breakfast: For Founders and Operators (8:30 AM - 9:30 AM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Ever found yourself dealing with a complicated situation, but feeling like you’re on your own?
​Join an intimate gathering of 5 founders and operators from venture backed companies for a unique, supportive problem-solving session designed to address your professional and personal challenges.

👉 -1 to Mark Zuckerberg (1:00 PM - 3:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​South Park Commons is excited to host Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, for an exceptional edition of our -1 to Now series! Join Ruchi Sanghvi and Aditya Agarwal, SPC Partners and early Facebook employees, for a fireside chat with Mark to discuss Meta’s journey from Facebook to Llama 3.

👉 'AI in HR' with Indeed.com's CEO, CPO, & Anne Dwane from Village Global (5:00 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 The biggest 'AI in HR' event yet from Indeed's Investment Team. 4 startups will be doing live demos to the audience and a special Q&A Panel. Networking and socializing before and after the live demos.

👉 Immigrant Founders Networking @ Microsoft Reactor (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​​Get ready to network and meet vetted immigrant founders, investors, and operators at Immigrant Founders Networking

👉 Building AI autopilots that scale (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Calling all tech folks & startup founders!
​​We are thrilled to partner with Pylon, Keywordsai & Octolane for an exclusive in-person event in San Francisco.

👉 MLOps Community x Google Cloud Meetup (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 Sunnyvale
💬 Yes, that Google. Join MLOps South Bay for another incredibly exciting event themed around AI Data and Security!
​Come hear an amazing lineup of lightning talks from Google engineers as well as our featured MLOps speakers on the latest in AI Data and Security!

👉 EdgeAI and Local LLM Developer Networking at General Lithium (5:30 PM - 7:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ​Building local LLM solutions? Interested in meeting like-minded developers? Looking for inspiration for edge and forward-deployed AI solutions? Come join us at our networking event for developers building constrained AI solutions and learn how General Lithium can help enable your team to create world-changing solutions.

👉 AI Dev Tools Night (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Welcome to AI Dev Tools Night!
​This is going to be an energetic evening filled with great talks and great people.

🗓️ Wednesday, Aug 7

👉 Investing In Startups (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM) [Hosted by Me]
📍 Remote
💬 Interested in breaking into venture? Want to start investing in startups? Join Mariane Bekker, Mala Ramakrishnan, and Raymond Lee for a casual chat on investing.

👉 VectorDB & Inference RAG Night (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Come on out for an evening of fun and learning with Cloudflare and Weaviate!
🏆 Evening of Fun:

  • Lightning Talks: Quick educational showcases of Weaviate Vector Database and Cloudflare AI Workers

  • Hands On: Try out our hands-on challenges to win something!

  • Demo Challenge: Showcase your creativity by combining technologies.

  • Other fun ways to win prizes!

👉 AI for Good: Community Conversations #2 (5:00 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an inspiring evening exploring AI's potential to drive positive social change. This monthly series, organized by PolyAgent & Radical Philanthropies (a 501(c)(3) non-profit), brings together innovators, thinkers, and change-makers to discuss AI's role in building a better future.

👉 Founder BBQ @ DraperU (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Mateo
💬 Join us at Draper University for an Evening of Sizzling BBQ and Prime Networking! Come and be part of an exciting evening with the Draper University team and over 50 resident entrepreneurs. This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with like-minded innovators, investors, and enthusiasts, share ideas, and enjoy some delicious BBQ!

👉 Startup Founders Happy Hour & Networking (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 ✨✨It'll be a time to kick back and chill.
---Building a start-up is hard & the roller coaster is real. By nature it's isolating, especially in the early stages.
---Hang out with folks in the trenches with you! Struggling with similar things & trying to achieve similar goals.
---Meet Grads who've been in your shoes & what helped them.

👉 SkyDeck Climate Happy Hour (5:30 PM - 8:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for the Climate Tech Happy Hour, sponsored by the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund & the Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator.

👉 Startup Program launch party by Persona (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 If you're a fintech, marketplace, social app, web3, or e-commerce startup, odds are that you require to verify your users' identities. Come join us for a live AMA session with Persona's CEO Rick Song.

👉 AI For Marketers (6:00 PM - 9:00 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.

.🗓️ Thursday, Aug 8

👉 From Data to Impact: How to Leverage AI Insights to Improve UX and Boost Growth (9:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 This event will delve into the immense value that generative AI insights can bring to businesses, particularly in turning data into actionable strategies, enhancing user experiences, and making informed business decisions that drive success.

👉 Early Stage Female Founder Pitch Competition (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 ​If you're a female-founded startup seeking an opportunity to pitch to expert VCs and raise funds

👉 AI + Marketing Tech Networking Event with Silverside AI (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM) [I’M SPEAKING]
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an exclusive AI + Marketing Tech event! This event will feature a dynamic panel discussion with prominent figures from the Marketing tech industry including strategic partners, investors & founders. We will also be providing food and drinks throughout the night.

👉 Google DeepMind's Gemini Models in Medicine (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 In this in-person BuzzRobot community meetup, researchers from Google DeepMind will talk about Med-Gemini, a family of capable multimodal models that specialize in medicine.

👉 Carbon Dioxide Removal Startup Showcase (5:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 🎉 Come listen to carbon removal startups pitch at a showcase organized by Shell Ventures and Third Derivative 🛠️ We're inviting select investors in our networks to engage with these startups during the showcase - bring your questions and curiosity!

👉 Open-source AI demo night (5:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an open-source AI demo night presented in partnership with the AI Alliance. This event will convene developers and visionaries from across the Bay Area to showcase their work and the latest advancements across the AI ecosystem.

👉 How to Train a Multi Modal Enterprise Grade LLM from Scratch @ Dolby Laboratories (5:00 PM - 8:15 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for the next AI User Group Meetup where we will discuss the intricacies of what it takes to train an enterprise-grade Multi Modal Large Language from scratch.

👉 AI in Fintech: Building Trading and Intelligent Feedback Applications (5:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an insightful evening into the future of Fintech AI at our upcoming event, where you'll hear from four remarkable founders.

👉 LLM Agents + MemGPT Developers Meetup @ Chroma (5:30 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 We are running the second in-person MemGPT LLM agents meetup at the new Chroma office!

👉 Integrate and Scale AI: Fast, Affordable LLMs in Products Users Love (5:45 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an unforgettable night of learning, networking, and successfully implementing LLMS cost-effectively that your users love!

👉 Winning your first Enterprise SaaS Client in the age of AI: Founders Panel (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Founders Panel: Winning your first enterprise SaaS client in the age of AI. You’ve built an amazing product. How do you win over your first enterprise giant? Step into the trenches with Founders who have been in your shoes. They've turned cold leads into million-dollar deals, convinced skeptical CTOs, navigated the maze of corporate bureaucracy and now — they're sharing their playbook.

🗓️ Friday, Aug 9

👉 Silicon Swing (3:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for Silicon Swing, a special edition of the Founders & Funders series, SHIVR + Ignite collaboration! This event invites early-stage founders, investors, and fellow enthusiasts to connect, socialize, and share ideas in a relaxed outdoor setting. Enjoy a great selection of beer and wine, and participate in fun activities like pickleball.

👉 Investing In Startups (4:00 PM - 5:00 PM) [Hosted by Me]
📍 Palo Alto
💬 Interested in breaking into venture? Want to start investing in startups? Join Mariane Bekker, Mala Ramakrishnan, and Raymond Lee for a casual chat on investing.

👉 AI x Humanity Happy Hour (5:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Join us for an engaging and lively happy hour with the Superhuman Society! Discuss the latest developments in AIxHumanity while socializing with fellow superhumanists. This is the perfect opportunity to connect, learn, and be part of a community passionate about shaping a dignified future for humanity.

👉 EntreConnect x CHAI Research (1m DAU) - Consumer AI Founders & Engineers BBQ Meetup (5:00 PM - 7:30 PM)
📍 Palo Alto
💬 We are partnering with CHAI Research, a GenAI startup based in Palo Alto, CA, to host a casual barbecue happy hour for fellow founders and builders!

👉 Factuality: Gemini vs. GPT vs. Perplexity (5:00 PM - 7:00 PM)
📍 Mountain View
💬 Factuality: Gemini vs. GPT vs. Perplexity

🗓️ Saturday, Aug 10

👉 Founders Running Club :: Easy 5–10K Run + Talks in SF (9:30 AM - 12:30 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 We'll run 5 — 10km at your conversational pace and talk. We'll have a few pace groups if needed. You can run at your own pace as well, especially if there is someone who runs with you at the same pace with approximately the same effort. After the run, we meet for non-alcoholic beer/coffee somewhere nearby.

🗓️ Sunday, Aug 11

👉 Latinas in Tech, SV x Latino Outdoors SF: Hike & Connect (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
📍 Pacifica

👉 Deep-tech Founders + Investors @ SF Hacker House 😎 (4:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
📍 San Francisco
💬 Meet founders and builders who you can bounce off ideas, find mentors, and make non-transactional friends to accelerate projects in climate, frontier, bio/health, defense, robotics, energy, hardware, and space verticals. (Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A+ founders, builders, active VCs, family offices, and angel investors)

Book a Personal LinkedIn Branding Strategy Session with me

In the last year, I grew my LinkedIn following from 2k to 11k. I’m offering a 1×1 session where we'll optimize your LinkedIn profile, create a compelling content strategy, and start growing your followers.

I'll give you personalized advice to identify your target audience, attract opportunities and clients, and become a thought leader.

Cultivating a Vibrant Startup Culture: Essential Elements for Success

By Mariane Bekker

In the fast-paced and highly competitive world of startups, fostering a positive and empowering work environment is essential for attracting and retaining top talent. A culture that thrives and nurtures not only promotes employee well-being but also fuels creativity, collaboration, and productivity. In this blog post, we will explore some essential elements that contribute to building a vibrant and supportive startup culture.

1. Empathetic and Inclusive Management

At the heart of a thriving startup culture is empathetic and inclusive management. Leaders who prioritize understanding and supporting their employees create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected. Empathetic managers actively listen, offer guidance, and provide the necessary resources for their team members to thrive. They also champion diversity and inclusivity, ensuring that all voices are heard and diverse perspectives are embraced.

2. Collaborative and Streamlined Processes

Streamlining processes and fostering a collaborative environment are vital components of a nurturing startup culture. By minimizing unnecessary bureaucracy and promoting open communication, employees can focus on their work rather than getting caught up in internal complexities. Encouraging cross-functional collaboration and knowledge-sharing helps create a sense of unity and shared purpose among team members.

3. Leadership Focus on Empowering Their Reports:

In a nurturing startup culture, leaders prioritize empowering and enabling their team members to grow. They act as mentors and coaches, providing guidance and opportunities for professional advancement. An empowering leadership style encourages autonomy, fosters creativity, and promotes a culture of ownership and accountability. By investing in their employees' growth, leaders create a positive cycle of continuous improvement and achievement.

4. Transparent and Rewarding Compensation Policies:

Transparent and rewarding compensation policies are essential for maintaining a nurturing startup culture. Employees should feel confident that their contributions are recognized and rewarded fairly. Transparent compensation practices, such as clearly defined salary bands and regular performance evaluations, build trust and reduce potential conflicts. Additionally, offering competitive benefits and meaningful rewards beyond financial compensation further enhances job satisfaction and employee well-being.

Cultivating a thriving and nurturing startup culture requires intentional efforts from leadership and a commitment to fostering a positive work environment. Empathetic and inclusive management, streamlined and collaborative processes, a focus on empowering employees, and transparent and rewarding compensation policies are key elements for creating a vibrant and supportive startup culture. By prioritizing these aspects, startups can attract and retain top talent, foster innovation and collaboration, and ultimately achieve long-term success. Remember, a positive and empowering work culture is not just a goal but also a strategic advantage in today's competitive business landscape.

The Week 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Another busy week for nine-figure funding rounds: seven startups secured $100 million or more. This includes an agtech company for the second consecutive week and a Sphere-like immersive entertainment startup.

1. Cosm

  • Sector: Entertainment

  • Funding: $250M

  • Details: Cosm, a Dallas-based immersive tech and entertainment company, secured over $250 million from Mirasol Capital and Baillie Gifford. This latest round values the company at over $1 billion. Cosm offers a unique immersive dome experience, primarily focused on sports. The company currently has a venue in Los Angeles and plans expansions in Dallas and Atlanta. Founded in 2020, Cosm has raised more than $250 million.

2. Altana AI

  • Sector: Supply Chain Management

  • Funding: $200M

  • Details: Altana AI, a New York-based supply chain management startup, closed a $200 million Series C round led by the US Innovative Technology Fund, bringing its valuation to $1 billion. Altana AI's platform leverages AI to provide deep insights into global value chains, crucial amidst new trade restrictions and policies. Since its founding in 2018, the company has raised $322 million.

3. Bilt Rewards

  • Sector: Loyalty Rewards

  • Funding: $150M

  • Details: Loyalty startup Bilt Rewards raised $150 million in a new round led by Teachers’ Venture Growth, adding to its previous $200 million raise in January 2024. The company, valued at $3.1 billion, allows consumers to earn rewards on rent payments and plans to expand its network to include local dining and retail purchases. Founded in 2021, Bilt has raised a total of $711 million.

4. Outpace Bio

  • Sector: Biotech

  • Funding: $144M

  • Details: Seattle-based Outpace Bio, a cell therapy company targeting solid tumors, raised $144 million in a Series B round led by RA Capital Management. Outpace Bio uses AI-powered protein design for immune cell programming. Since its inception in 2020, the company has raised approximately $200 million.

5. Agrovision

  • Sector: Agtech

  • Funding: $100M

  • Details: Los Angeles-based Agrovision closed a $100 million round led by Aliment Capital, achieving a $1 billion valuation. The company specializes in growing, packing, shipping, and marketing superfruits, using proprietary genetics and data analytics. Founded in 2017, Agrovision is one of the few agtech startups to secure significant funding recently.

6. Spring Health

  • Sector: Mental Health

  • Funding: $100M

  • Details: Mental health startup Spring Health raised $100 million in Series E funding, increasing its valuation to $3.3 billion. The round was led by Generation Investment Management. Spring Health, which partners with employers to offer mental health services, uses AI to expedite care. Founded in 2016, the company has raised nearly $467 million.

7. Jade Biosciences

  • Sector: Biotech

  • Funding: $80M

  • Details: Waltham, Massachusetts-based Jade Biosciences secured $80 million in funding led by Fairmount Funds Management and Venrock. This round is the company’s first disclosed financing. Jade Biosciences focuses on developing therapies for autoimmune diseases.

8. AiRNA

  • Sector: Biotech

  • Funding: $60M

  • Details: AiRNA, a biotech company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developing RNA editing therapeutics, raised $60 million in a round led by Forbion Capital Partners. Founded in 2021, AiRNA has raised a total of $90 million.

9. Protect AI

  • Sector: Cybersecurity

  • Funding: $60M

  • Details: Seattle-based Protect AI, specializing in AI and machine learning security, closed a $60 million Series B round led by Evolution Equity Partners. Founded in 2022, Protect AI has raised a total of $108.5 million.

10. Gradient AI

  • Sector: Insurance

  • Funding: $56.1M

  • Details: Boston-based Gradient AI, an AI-enhanced insurance software provider, raised $56.1 million in Series C funding led by Centana Growth Partners. Founded in 2012, the company has raised more than $123 million.

Source: Crunchbase

CEO, Founders Bay

Hi! I'm Mariane Bekker, General Partner at Progressive Ventures 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 Women Founders Bay, a community of tech female founders on a mission to increase funding going to women. Donate today →