Upcoming Founder & VC Events Happening This Week

Upcoming Events & The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

Author

Mariane Bekker
April 08, 2024

Women Founders Meetup: Fashion Exhibition (Link)

Sunday April 16th 2:00pm

I’m going with the Women Founders Bay community to see a unique fashion exhibition at De Young Museum

MongoDB GenAI Hackathon SF (Hosted by Me) (Link)

Saturday April 20 9:30am - 10:00pm

​Calling all generative AI Engineers, Software Developers and early stage startups! We are thrilled to bring the GenAI community together for a day-long hackathon at MongoDB’s downtown SF office.

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

🗓️ Monday, Apr 8

👉 AI B2B Investors & Networking (4:00pm - 6:30pm)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 We are Open Future Forum. We are leaders, investors, founders and engineers based in the Bay Area CA. ​Featured VC: ​Joanne Chen ​General Partner at Foundation Capital

👉 Founders & Creatives Meetup (5:00pm - 7:00pm)

📍San Francisco

💬 We're gathering the best founders and creatives in SF for a fun evening of mingling and lightning talks with Design Buddies and Freepik! Hosted by Grace Ling and Paula Vivas. Healthy Greek food will be provided..

🗓️ Tuesday, Apr 9

📍 Mountain View

💬 Connect with and join the ever-growing group of active investors, C-level executives, corporate development professionals, press, and the visionary entrepreneurs that make our summits the premier annual venture experience for many.

📍 Menlo Park

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

📍 San Francisco

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

👉 Founders & Funders by IgniteGTM (6:00pm - 8:00pm)

📍 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.

🗓️ Wednesday, Apr 10

📍 Mountain View

 💬 Connect with and join the ever-growing group of active investors, C-level executives, corporate development professionals, press, and the visionary entrepreneurs that make our summits the premier annual venture experience for many.

📍 San Jose

 💬 Ever wondered how to effectively engage with Angel Investors? Curious about the steps involved in finding and captivating potential investors for your venture? Join us for an insightful session where we'll demystify the process and equip you with essential strategies to navigate the world of Angel Investing.

👉 onRun + WeWork run (5:00pm - 6:00pm)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for a simple group run winding through some landmarks of FiDi, San Francisco! We finish the day with happy hours at WeWork, networking about our projects, startups, running, professional needs, or anything in life.

👉 AI and Hardware (5:00pm)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 The #SVE Demo is the oldest and largest community startup pitching and demo meetup in Silicon Valley. Learn more by watching a quick recap of our last Demo Night!

📍 San Rafael

💬 Interested in AI? Like coffee and other cafe goodies? Come join for an open meet and chat for folks that live or work in Marin to chat about AI in business, life, culture and more.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Feel the excitement of our events. An event where innovative startups and entrepreneurs from around the world in Tech & Business meet with Silicon Valley investors. Seize your chance to dive into the world of business, technology, and venture capital.

🗓️ Thursday, Apr 11

👉 -1 to MosaicML with Naveen Rao (11:30am - 1:30pm)

📍San Francisco

💬 South Park Commons is delighted to host Naveen Rao, VP of Generative AI at Databricks and former CEO and co-founder of MosaicML, as part of our -1 to Now series! Please join us to hear Naveen's founding journey and perspective on AI/ML.

👉 AI Infra Summit (12:00pm)

📍 Palo Alto

💬 The AI Infra Summit aims to bring together key players from across the AI landscape to tackle pressing infrastructure and supply chain challenges head-on.

👉 Ai&Robotics Panel (5:30pm - 7:00pm)

📍 San Francisco

💬 Discover the realities of the AI & Robotics market at our panel on April 11th, 5:30 pm PST, at MindsDB HQ.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join the V7 founders and team to celebrate the launch of V7 Go. We are visiting from London and are gathering all of our friends, users, fellow builders, and investors in the AI community for good food, drinks and deep discussions.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Hello Impact Founders & Impact Investors, THE TIME IS NOW! We CAN make a change for a better world! Join us for the TechForGood FIRST EVENT is SAN FRANCISCO! A unique group of business owners in Tech, CTO's, investors and united by one common goal – Using technology to make a meaningful impact in the world for others!

🗓️ Friday, Apr 12

📍 San Francisco

 💬 At a Bootstrappers Breakfast® we have serious conversations about growing a business based on internal cashflow and organic profit: this is for founders who are actively bootstrapping a startup.

📍 San Francisco

💬 This is a half-day immersion event designed to provide startups with access to the latest Google technology and capital resources. If your company is running some awesome projects, feel free to meet us on-site.

📍 Palo Alto

💬 The Young Entrepreneurs Hub Social 6.0 is the perfect place to meet like-minded young entrepreneurs, share experiences, and build valuable connections.

🗓️ Saturday, Apr 13

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for a hackathon focused on real-time voice AI and multimodal applications. Whether you're a developer, designer, or just interested in learning more, all skill levels are welcome!

📍 San Francisco

💬 Dive deeper into the world of AI with a special focus on RAG, knowledge graphs, and Python. Join us for hands-on workshops and discussions led by industry experts.

📍 AGI House, Hillsborough

💬 Join us for a weekend-long hackathon exploring the wonders of AI. From machine learning to computer vision, come and push the boundaries of what's possible with artificial intelligence.

🗓️ Sunday, Apr 14

📍 De Young, San Francisco

💬 Join us for a special meetup celebrating women founders and entrepreneurs in conjunction with an iconic fashion exhibition at De Young. Hosted by ChatGPT and Sofia E. Keck, this event promises networking, inspiration, and empowerment.

📍 San Francisco

💬 Join us for an exclusive look at the latest innovations from Inception Studio Cohort 10. Meet the teams, see live demos, and network with industry professionals and investors.

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds

In an eventful week for startups, significant investments have been made across various sectors, including biotech, social media, database management, and more. Here's a recap of the top funding rounds shaping the future of their respective industries:

  1. Obsidian Therapeutics

    • Sector: Biotech

    • Funding: $161M

    • Obsidian Therapeutics leads the way with a $160.5 million Series C financing, led by new investor Wellington Management. The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focuses on developing engineered cell and gene therapies for clinical use.

  2. Flip

    • Sector: Social Media

    • Funding: $144M

    • Social commerce startup Flip secured $144 million in new financing, led by Streamlined Ventures. The Los Angeles-based marketplace offers video reviews, providing reviewers with compensation based on views and product sales.

  3. Alterome Therapeutics

    • Sector: Biotech

    • Funding: $132M

    • Oncology biotech Alterome Therapeutics raised a $132 million Series B financing led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The company utilizes machine learning for drug discovery, focusing on developing small molecule therapies for cancer treatment.

  4. Diagonal Therapeutics

    • Sector: Biotech

    • Funding: $128M

    • Diagonal Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, closed a $128 million Series A financing co-led by BVF Partners and Atlas Venture. The company specializes in discovering and developing agonist antibodies to fight illness, with a focus on treating hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

  5. Aerospike

    • Sector: Database

    • Funding: $109M

    • Real-time NoSQL database management system Aerospike secured a $109 million investment led by Sumeru Equity Partners. The Mountain View, California-based startup aims to meet the increasing demand for databases that can scale, particularly driven by the rapid adoption of AI.

  6. Alsym Energy

    • Sector: Energy

    • Funding: $78M

    • Alsym Energy, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, announced a $78 million funding round co-led by Tata Limited and General Catalyst. The company specializes in developing nonflammable rechargeable batteries, offering innovative solutions for energy storage.

  7. SiMa.ai

    • Sector: Semiconductor

    • Funding: $70M

    • Semiconductor startup SiMa.ai raised $70 million led by Maverick Capital. The San Jose, California-based company focuses on advancing AI-driven semiconductor technologies.

  8. Torus

    • Sector: Energy

    • Funding: $67M

    • Torus, headquartered in South Salt Lake City, Utah, closed a $67 million round led by Origin Ventures. The company designs and manufactures energy storage and management products, addressing the growing demand for sustainable energy solutions

  9. Binx Health

    • Sector: Healthcare

    • Funding: $65M

    • Boston-based Binx Health raised a $65 million Series F funding round for its diagnostic testing device for sexually transmitted diseases. The funding was led by Hildred Capital and aims to expand access to rapid diagnostic testing.

  10. Homebase

    • Sector: Human Resources

    • Funding: $60M

    • Homebase, headquartered in San Francisco, secured a $60 million Series D financing led by L Catterton Growth. The human resources and team management app aims to streamline workforce management for businesses.

This week's funding rounds reflect a diverse range of industries, with biotech, social media, and energy among the notable sectors receiving significant investments.

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 recently founded Founders Bay, a venture studio for early-stage founders with a mission of empowering women founders to thrive. Learn more: www.foundersbay.com