StrictlyVC SF to host AI funding and development discussions

The venture capital networking event series StrictlyVC is returning to San Francisco on April 30. The event, which will take place at the Sentro Filipino Cultural Center, serves as a gathering for artificial intelligence innovators and founders in the Bay Area. Attendees will have opportunities to network, mix, and mingle with the startup community while gaining insights into obtaining funding from industry leaders.

The speaker lineup features leaders from corporate venture capital, software development, and AI information integrity:

• Nicolas Sauvage, president of TDK Ventures, will discuss investment strategies for corporate VCs—the venture capital arms of large corporations. In a conversation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos, Sauvage will explain how these corporate entities operate differently and what founders should know about what catches his eye in an investment. TDK Ventures, which is hosting and sponsoring the event, manages a $500 million investment effort for early-stage startups. Under Sauvage’s tenure, the firm has backed 52 startups and three unicorns—privately held startup companies valued at over $1 billion—including Groq, Ascend Elements, and Silicon Box. Attendees will have opportunities to learn from and get potential face time with the TDK Ventures team.
• Campbell Brown, co-founder and CEO of Forum AI, will speak on the challenges of vetting, verifying, and sustaining the veracity of information provided by large language models (LLMs). Brown, a former CNN host and head of news at Meta, transitioned to the startup scene to focus on making AI platforms more trustworthy as more users turn to them for advice and information.
• Amjad Masad, co-founder and CEO of Replit, will share his experience leading changes in how software is constructed. Masad’s talk will focus on the rise of “vibe coding”—a term describing a shift in software construction methods. This shift has changed the ways many work, especially in the Bay Area, and has introduced competition from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. Masad will offer a look into the future of programming.

The event will conclude with a final round of networking and connection-making, which organizers describe as a defining element of the StrictlyVC series.

Why it matters

The event serves as a critical networking hub for AI founders and innovators to gain direct access to venture capital insights and industry leaders.