Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week

Upcoming Events & The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Author

Mariane Bekker
February 18, 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 19)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 Come and Meet Featured investors Featured VC: Simmone Seymour

🗓 Tuesday (Feb 20)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for a day of coding, collaboration, and connection at the Code/Collab/Connect Coworking Day hosted by MindsDB.

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​Developers and startup founders, the Convex and Orb team is excited to host our February happy hour. There are no pitches or demos, just opportunities to connect with other developers and founders over good food and drinks.

🗓 Wednesday (Feb 21)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Get ready to shine in the spotlight and unveil your groundbreaking PropTech startup to a distinguished audience of investors, entrepreneurs, and industry pioneers! Don't miss this golden opportunity to take center stage at the Startup Showcase (#SVEDemo), Silicon Valley's longest-standing startup pitching and demo meetup.

📍 Newark

💬 Join Cleantech Open (CTO) as we share the information about this year's upcoming 2024 Accelerator Program! At CTO we are the world's oldest and largest Clean Technology Startup Accelerator. We've had ~2,000 early stage startups successfully graduate our program since 2006. This time of year, we're looking for ambitious and innovative entrepreneurs that are trying to solve some of the world's greatest problems who are looking to grow their business to the next level using our proven curriculum.

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​Come hang out at the Pebblebed warehouse with ~100 builders to see some of the coolest AI applications people are working on in SF.

📍 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.

📍 San Francisco

💬 We are organizing a 150-person Networking Event for Startups, Investors, and Game changers.

🗓 Thursday (Feb 22)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 We would like to invite you to the 5 by 5 Startups, Silicon Valley Pitch Event at the Multiverse startup studio in downtown Palo Alto. Several amazing founders will be pitching including some Turkish Late-Stage and post revenue startups going through our accelerator program. We are thrilled to unveil the remarkable accomplishments and potential of these pre-seed and seed-funded startups. This event will be the culmination of our 5 by 5 Startup Acceleration program. With mentors boasting a proven track record in Silicon Valley and recognized worldwide for their over 25 years of startup acceleration expertise, this event promises to be a remarkable celebration of innovation and entrepreneurial achievement.

📍 Sunnyvale

💬 Connecting AI Startups with Leading Venture Investing Experts in Silicon Valley

📍 Palo Alto

💬 AI Investor Pitching Investors and location on approval Featured Investors Chris McCann, GP at Race Capital Jinlin Wang, GP at Foothill Ventures Jason Nyeh, CoFounder Lamarka Jing Kuang, Founding Partner at Y+ Ventures Dana Oshiro, General Partner at Heavybit

📍 San Francisco

💬 Featured Investor Iris Sun Investor @TSVC Capital

📍 San Francisco

💬 We are excited to announce we are hosting a facilitated networking event. Come join us for wine, small bites and network with Bay Area Women In Tech professionals in San Francisco. Our last event was SOLD OUT. If you don't have a ticket purchased in advance, you will not be able to go through the door.

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​Join us for a fun night of hot sauce and chicken nuggets while we get grilled on questions about our startups and funds. Inspired by the HotOnes Challenge, Founders and Investors will face off in a head to head challenge where we go through 10 different hot sauces progressively getting hotter as it continues. We will see how many from each side are left standing. Who can stand the heat? Who has the fortitude to step up to the challenge!

📍 San Francisco

💬 Founders Dinners to network and meet like minded people.

🗓 Friday (Feb 23)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for co-working with AI builders & founders in SF!​​This will be a great opportunity to work alongside others building in AI and get feedback from your peers.

📍 Palo Alto

💬 ​Young Entrepreneurs Hub (www.youngentrepreneurshub.co) is the Bay's founder-focused membership community - all welcome! We run exciting high-participation events, programs and partnerships that help our members launch, grow and collab on awesome startups and small business. Membership is FREE.

📍 Los Altos

💬 ​Join us for an inspiring Friday afternoon where the worlds of AI investors, serial founders in the 100 Club, dedicated researchers, and enthusiasts converge to share experiences, knowledge, and resources in the backdrop of downtown Los Altos.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Ocean Avenue Association is a non-profit Community Benefit District (CBD), also known as Business Improvement District (BID). We represent the interests of the property owners and businesses on the Ocean Avenue corridor.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us and witness the excitement of Web3 innovation! Scheduled for Thursday, February 22, 2024, promising an unmissable Web3 Pitch experience.

🗓 Saturday (Feb 24)

📍 San Francisco

💬 ​We're bringing together the best of the Bay Area AI, hardware, and bio communities to explore solving challenges in lab automation.

📍 San Francisco

💬 You can run either 5K or 10K at your conversational pace, with a few pace groups available, or you can choose your own pace to cover the distance of your choice. The most important thing is that we start together. We run easily, chat along the way, and then we grab coffee together and continue the conversation.

📍 Hillsborough

💬 The future of human-computer interaction is truly upon us! With the launch of multimodal OpenAI Sora, Gemini and innovative products like Humane's Ai Pin, Apple's Vision Pro, Ray-Ban Stories, and Rabbit's R-1, mixed reality and AI have ushered in new possibilities for multi-modal interfaces.

🗓 Sunday (Feb 25)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Social medias like Twitter and Reddit have a long history of benefiting from 3rd party devs then shutting them out. Bluesky is built on a protocol that makes its data available to everyone, so you don’t need to worry about APIs shutting down or being rate-limited. Everyone has access, forever.

📍 Cupertino

💬 ​The Bay Area Founders Club is excited to announce the 1st Demo Day, co-hosted with Amino Capital, Stanford AGI Adventists Community, Open Future Forum, IgniteGTM, and AI+ Community. We are seeking entrepreneurs ready for their second round of funding.

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Is it 2021 again? That might be the question popping up for many as the startup ecosystem witnessed a surge reminiscent of last year's fundraising frenzy. This week, the biggest deals was 10 rounds of $100 million or more raised by U.S.-based startups. We haven’t seen similar fundraising deals since the early part of 2022 — if even then. And what's more, three of these rounds surpassed a quarter-billion dollars each. It's uncertain what exactly was in the water this week, but AI and biotech took center stage, as they often do.

1. Lambda, $320M, Artificial Intelligence

Leading the pack was Lambda, securing a staggering $320 million in its Series C round, propelling the company into unicorn territory with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Specializing in cloud computing services and hardware for training artificial intelligence software, Lambda boasts an impressive clientele including tech giants Microsoft and Amazon. The round, spearheaded by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund, marks the largest funding for an AI startup this year.

2. Freenome, $254M, Biotech

Biotech heavyweight Freenome pulled in a substantial $254 million, with drugmaker Roche leading the charge. Freenome, known for its innovative blood tests capable of detecting early-stage cancers, particularly focusing on colorectal and lung cancers, adds this round to its impressive fundraising history totaling $1.4 billion.

3. Cinq Music, $250M, Music

In an unexpected turn, Los Angeles-based Cinq Music secured $250 million to bolster its independent record label. The funding, aimed at acquiring music rights, reflects the company's ambitions to diversify its catalog across various genres. With a focus on reggaeton, Música Mexicana, Afrobeat, and country, Cinq Music aims to solidify its presence in the music industry.

4. (tied) BioAge Labs, $170M, Biotech

Continuing the biotech trend, BioAge Labs raked in $170 million in its Series D round, primarily targeting obesity and metabolic diseases. With its weight-loss drug Azelaprag showing promising results in clinical trials, BioAge Labs aims to advance its development and expand its impact on health and wellness.

4. (tied) Lilac Solutions, $170M, Advanced Materials

Oakland-based Lilac Solutions made waves with its $170 million Series C round, showcasing the East Bay's prowess in innovation. Specializing in lithium extraction technology crucial for the EV market's sustainability, Lilac Solutions attracted a diverse investor pool, including prominent names like BMW i Ventures and Mitsubishi Corp.

6. Latigo Biotherapeutics, $135M, Biotech

Latigo Biotherapeutics, based in Thousand Oaks, California, secured $135 million in its Series A financing round. Focused on developing non-opioid pain medicines, the company aims to address the critical need for effective pain management alternatives.

7. ProfoundBio, $112M, Biotech

Seattle-based ProfoundBio raised $112 million in its Series B round, focusing on developing antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics for cancer patients. With an emphasis on innovation in cancer treatment, ProfoundBio aims to make significant strides in improving patient outcomes.

8. Sierra, $110M, Artificial Intelligence

San Francisco-based Sierra, specializing in conversational AI, closed a $110 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Benchmark. With this substantial investment, Sierra aims to further enhance its AI capabilities and expand its market reach.

9. Bugcrowd, $102M, Cybersecurity

Bugcrowd, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity platform, secured $102 million in fresh funding. Known for its hacker-for-hire platform, Bugcrowd enables companies to identify software vulnerabilities through bug bounty programs. With plans for global expansion and strategic acquisitions, Bugcrowd is poised for rapid growth in the cybersecurity sector.

10. Alys Pharmaceuticals, $100M, Biotech

Medicxi launched Alys Pharmaceuticals with a $100 million investment, merging six dermatology-focused portfolio companies. With a focus on immunodermatology, Alys Pharmaceuticals aims to advance dermatological treatments and address unmet medical needs in skin-related conditions.

As the startup landscape continues to evolve, these substantial funding rounds underscore the resilience and innovation driving the tech and biotech sectors forward. With diverse advancements in AI, biotech, music, and beyond, the future promises exciting developments and transformative breakthroughs. Keep an eye on these trailblazing companies as they pave the way for tomorrow's innovations.

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.