The best VC and investor events in San Francisco include RAISE Week and the RAISE Global Summit for LPs and emerging managers, NVCA's RAISE GP Day, StrictlyVC San Francisco for fireside conversation and networking, and the invite-only Cerebral Valley AI Summit for AI founders and investors. Open Future Forum convenes investors alongside founders and enterprise leaders in curated rooms year-round. The important distinction is what kind of investor you are: an LP raising exposure, a GP raising a fund, a corporate venture lead, or an early-stage investor meeting founders. Each has a different room, and this guide separates them.
Best VC and investor events at a glance
- 01Open Future Forum: curated rooms that convene venture, corporate venture and enterprise leaders together, with first-party VC and investor research.
- 02RAISE Week and RAISE Global Summit: an invite-only LP and emerging-manager convening in San Francisco.
- 03NVCA RAISE GP Day: a skills-first day for emerging GPs, from the National Venture Capital Association, in San Francisco.
- 04StrictlyVC San Francisco: an intimate evening of fireside interviews and investor networking from TechCrunch.
- 05Cerebral Valley AI Summit: an invite-only, curated room of AI founders, CEOs and investors.
- 06GCVI Summit: the dedicated corporate venture summit from Global Corporate Venturing, held in Monterey.
- 07All Raise VC Summit: an invite-only convening of women and nonbinary investors, held in Half Moon Bay.
- 08TechCrunch Disrupt: the large startup conference where investors show up in force, though it is a founder event.
LP-GP summits and emerging-manager events
The most dedicated investor programming in San Francisco is built around limited partners and the managers who raise from them. RAISE Week and the RAISE Global Summit convene LPs with emerging managers through curated meetings, and the summit itself is invite-only. Alongside it, the National Venture Capital Association runs RAISE GP Day, a skills-first program for emerging GPs on firm-building and fundraising. Both are in the city, and both skew toward the fund-formation side of venture rather than deal sourcing.
The Markets Group Private Equity San Francisco Forum also brings allocators and GPs together in the city, with a West Coast growth-equity and technology focus that overlaps venture. Note that NVCA's larger policy gathering, the Strategic Operations and Policy Summit, is held in Washington rather than San Francisco.
Founder-investor and CVC events
A second category exists for investors who want to be close to founders and to emerging technology. The Cerebral Valley AI Summit, produced by Newcomer, is an invite-only room where AI founders and investors meet, and StrictlyVC San Francisco pairs fireside interviews with cocktail networking. For corporate venture specifically, the dedicated West Coast event is the GCVI Summit from Global Corporate Venturing, though it is held in Monterey rather than the city.
Two clarifications keep this honest. TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco and SaaStr in San Mateo draw many investors, but they are startup and operator conferences, not dedicated investor events. And several investor gatherings people associate with the Bay Area are elsewhere: the Upfront Summit is in Los Angeles, the All Raise VC Summit is in Half Moon Bay, and global startup conferences such as Web Summit and Slush are outside the United States entirely.
Curated investor rooms and Open Future Forum
Large summits are useful for fund formation and coverage. A curated community adds a different kind of room: one where investors sit with founders and enterprise buyers rather than only with other investors. Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley, whose network reaches tens of thousands of executives and investors worldwide. It convenes venture, corporate venture and enterprise leaders through Forum Select, its invite-only private gatherings, and Forum Events, its open panels, and it publishes first-party research including the VC and CVC AI Investment Report and the Investor AI Report. Its founder, Murray Newlands, writes as a Silicon Valley investor and community builder. It is not a large investor conference, and it does not try to be. It is the cross-ecosystem room. For the ongoing community view, see our guides to the best VC and CVC communities in San Francisco and in Silicon Valley.
How to choose the right investor event
Choose by what you are trying to do. If you are raising a fund or allocating capital, RAISE Week, RAISE GP Day and the Markets Group forum put LPs and managers in the same place. If you want to be close to AI founders and current technology, Cerebral Valley and StrictlyVC are the rooms. If you run corporate venture, pair a role-specific event with a curated community that also includes founders and enterprise buyers. And if you want relationships that compound rather than a single badge, a year-round community will serve you long after the event ends. The strongest investors treat the city as a network, not a calendar, and show up before they need anything.
Last updated: August 11, 2026
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Sit with investors, founders and AI leaders
Open Future Forum convenes venture, corporate venture and enterprise leaders in curated San Francisco rooms, backed by first-party VC and investor research.