Startup Grind Global Conference: dates, who attends, and how founders get in
“Where founders, investors, and builders shaping what’s next come together to raise capital, scale AI, and swap real stories. Startups today are building in the middle of two huge forces: the rise of AI and the grind of fundraising.”
- Next edition
- Apr 27–28, 2027 · Startup Grind Conference 2027 source
- Where
- Fox Theatre, Redwood City, United States
- Format
- in-person · 2 main conference days (2027); exhibitor activities begin 2027-04-26.
- Tickets
- $299–$1,399 (2027). The current homepage shows special-launch prices of $299, $399 and $799 (2027); a separate 2027 ticket page lists $499, $599 and $1,399 as coming-soon prices. source
- Startup pass
- $2,999 for Startup Exhibition and $4,999 for Scaleup Exhibition (2027). source
- Cadence
- Annual; recent editions were held in late April (2024–2026). The next announced edition is 2027-04-27 to 2027-04-28.
GeneralistAIPre-seedSeedSeries AFoundersInvestorsDevelopersPartners
Next edition
| Dates | Apr 27–28, 2027 source |
|---|---|
| Edition | Startup Grind Conference 2027 |
| Venue | Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City, CA 94063, Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley), United States |
| Timezone | America/Los_Angeles |
| Tickets | startupgrind.tech source |
Ticket tiers as published
| Tier | Price | Includes | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startup Ticket source | — | — | 2026 |
| Ecosystem Ticket source | — | — | 2026 |
| Startup Ticket source | $299 current special-launch price; a separate page lists $499 as a coming-soon price (2027). | All tickets are listed as including sessions and stages, Q&As, workshops, VC AMAs, the Networking Tent and curated meetups (2027). | 2027 |
| Ecosystem Ticket source | $399 current special-launch price; a separate page lists $599 as a coming-soon price (2027). | All tickets are listed as including sessions and stages, Q&As, workshops, VC AMAs, the Networking Tent and curated meetups (2027). | 2027 |
| Team Bundle (x3) source | $799 current special-launch price; a separate page lists $1,399 as a coming-soon price (2027). | Three tickets for startup teams; the ticket page lists access to sessions and stages, Q&As, workshops, VC AMAs, the Networking Tent and curated meetups (2027). | 2027 |
How founders get in
Startup Grind describes a founder-focused Silicon Valley gathering about fundraising, product, AI and growth. Its planned experience includes fireside chats, hands-on sessions, a startup exhibition, investor meetings and ways to meet founders and investors. The organiser’s promise is to leave with momentum and a plan.
- For general attendance, buy the 2027 Startup Ticket through the conference ticket page. It is described for pre-seed and seed founders; the current special-launch price is $299 (2027).
- To exhibit and pitch, apply through the Startup Exhibition application. The organiser reviews applications and helps select the Startup track (bootstrapped to seed) or Scaleup track (seed to Series A).
- If accepted, expect an approval email within 7 days (2027), then use its link to secure the place. The exhibition is capped at 150 companies (2027) and places are offered on a rolling basis.
- Plan for the exhibitor-only Accelerate Summit on 2027-04-26; the main conference is 2027-04-27 to 2027-04-28 at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City.
| Startup programme | The Startup Exhibition is a separate, selective exhibitor programme: apply online, choose or be guided to the Startup or Scaleup track, and secure a place after acceptance. This is distinct from purchasing a Startup Ticket for general attendance. source |
|---|---|
| Startup price | $2,999 for Startup Exhibition and $4,999 for Scaleup Exhibition (2027). source |
| Includes | The Startup package includes 4 conference tickets (2027), one exhibition day, a pitch to curated investors, pre-booked investor meetings through Brella, exhibition signage, lead generation, a pitch workshop, the Accelerate Summit and lifetime Startup Grind membership. The Scaleup package includes 6 tickets (2027), two exhibition days, a main-stage pitch and additional promotional exposure. |
| Eligibility | Startup Exhibition: bootstrapped to seed. Scaleup Exhibition: seed to Series A. The organiser says it looks for tech startups with a repeatable, scalable business model and accepts companies from anywhere in the world (2027 programme). |
| Founder discounts | The 2027 conference homepage labels its current ticket offers “Special Launch Pricing”: Startup Ticket $299, Ecosystem Ticket $399 and three-ticket Team Bundle $799 (2027). Another 2027 ticket page lists $499, $599 and $1,399, respectively, as prices with tickets marked “Coming Soon.” No promotional end date is printed. The organiser says it offers no discounts outside limited-time promotions; group discounts are available for delegations and groups of 10+ (2027), and it says there are no individual student discounts. |
| Students | The organiser mentions limited student allocations and an application form, but says it does not provide individual student discounts. It recommends volunteering as another route to event access; no student ticket price is published. |
| Exhibiting | Startup Exhibition: $2,999 (2027). Scaleup Exhibition: $4,999 (2027). Applications are reviewed; accepted exhibitors receive the package for their selected track. |
| Investor pass | The published 2027 ticket pages show Startup, Ecosystem and Team Bundle tickets, but no separate investor-pass application or purchase route. source |
| Application required | No, tickets are purchased |
Startup Exhibition pitch sessions (2027); no separate conference pitch contest announced
| Format | The conference programme describes selected exhibitors’ guaranteed pitches to curated investors, including a main-stage pitch for Scaleup exhibitors, but does not announce a separate judged conference pitch contest for 2027. |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | Accepted Startup Exhibition and Scaleup Exhibition companies pitch to curated investors; the published tracks are bootstrapped-to-seed and seed-to-Series A (2027). |
Winners
- Sentry AI (2026) — Startup of the Year; no monetary prize specified. source
Meeting investors there
For exhibiting startups, the organiser describes pre-booked meetings with investors, a pitch to investors active in the startup’s industry, and a roundtable for feedback. Attendees can set up Brella profiles and book meetings; the exhibitor programme also offers an on-site meeting lounge. source
| Investors attending | 1,000+ investors scouting (2026) source |
|---|---|
| Matchmaking | Brella source |
| Formats | Pre-booked one-to-one investor meetings through Brella, with on-site meeting space for exhibitors (2027). · Pitches to curated investors, followed by investor roundtables and feedback (2027). · Investor office hours, VC AMA panels, roundtables and an investor dinner (2027). · The event app offers attendee matchmaking and meeting booking (2027). |
| Meetings arranged | 1,000+ investor meetings on site (2026) source |
Investor firms the organiser lists (2026 completed edition; next announced edition: 2027-04-27 to 2027-04-28 at Fox Theatre, Redwood City. The organiser currently brands it “Startup Grind Conference.”)
Index VenturesAccelRedpoint VenturesSequoia CapitalAndreessen HorowitzDeloitteInitializedGoogle VenturesBenchmark CapitalY CombinatorBessemer Venture PartnersUpfront VenturesCoatueFounders FundThomson Reuters VenturesGeneral CatalystGreylockPathlight VenturesKleiner PerkinsLightspeed VenturesMayfield FundMenlo VenturesBain Capital VenturesHustle FundObvious VenturesPear VCKhosla Ventures
Before you go: the hub's cold email to VCs playbook covers the pre-event outreach that fills a meeting calendar, and Causo matches your stage and thesis to the funds in its database so you know who to ask for a meeting.
Who speaks (2026 completed edition; next announced edition: 2027-04-27 to 2027-04-28 at Fox Theatre, Redwood City. The organiser currently brands it “Startup Grind Conference.”)
- Gabe Pereyra, President + Co-founder · Harvey AI
- Lin Qiao, CEO + Co-founder · Fireworks AI
- Ashton Kutcher, General Partner · Sound Ventures
- Amjad Masad, CEO · Replit
- Eoghan McCabe, CEO + Founder · Fin.ai by Intercom
- James Dumoulin, Co-founder · School of Hard Knocks
- Ed Catmull, Co-founder · Pixar + Walt Disney
- Stephanie Zhan, Partner · Sequoia Capital
- Justin Kan, Co-founder · Twitch
- Hans Tung, Managing Partner · Notable Capital
- Christine Tsai, CEO + Founding Partner · 500 Global
- Adarsh Hiremath, Co-CEO · Mercor
- Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner · Benchmark
- Tuhin Srivastava, CEO + Co-founder · Baseten
- Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner · Mayfield Fund
- Tamar Yehoshua, Chief Product + AI Officer · Atlassian
- Karri Saarinen, CEO + Co-founder · Linear
- Frédérique Dame, General Partner · GV
- Anish Acharya, General Partner · Andreessen Horowitz
- Rachel Wolan, Chief Product Officer · Webflow
- Rahul Vohra, Founder + Head of Superhuman Mail · Superhuman
- Ayush Sharma, CEO + Founder · Warp
- Dave Ferguson, Co-CEO + Co-founder · Nuro
- Abhinav Asthana, CEO · Postman
Full lineup: official speakers page.
Notable past speakers
- Sam Altman (2014)
- Reid Hoffman (2014)
- Jessica Livingston (2014)
- Marc Andreessen (2016)
- Clay Christensen (2016)
Sponsors and partners
Global sponsor / Presenting 1
Gold 1
Silver 1
Partner (tier not stated) 39
TriNetDescopeVantaRemoFirstAtlassianCustomer.ioMercuryAdobeBulgarian SME Promotion AgencySnowflakeIgnite HR SolutionsBubbleCodeLaunchDesignliMcGill Dobson Centre for EntrepreneurshipJustworksMaster of Business Creation (MBC) | David Eccles School of BusinessOsomeSupabaseSPIRIT Slovenia, Public Agency for Investment, Entrepreneurship and InternationalizationSpringboardNYBackblazeAspireIDA IrelandBigin by Zoho CRMGerman AcceleratorIntercomCLA CliftonLarsonAllenPuerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and CommerceAgroCo2 CapitalAgroBankingQapitaStartup EstoniaInsperityMorrison ForesterSentryPertaminaRedBullNotion
Bronze 1
Government partners: Bulgarian SME Promotion Agency, SPIRIT Slovenia, Public Agency for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Internationalization, IDA Ireland, Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce, Startup Estonia
Full list: official partners page.
Startups there
150+ exhibiting startups (2026) · official startup directory
Alumni the organiser highlights
- Airalo (2023) — Organiser-highlighted standout exhibitor; later raised a $60M Series B, noted in its 2023 event history. source
- Swit (2023) — Organiser-highlighted standout exhibitor; later raised $40M, noted in its 2023 event history. source
Programme
| Tracks | The 2027 agenda is coming soon. The organiser previews fundraising, product, AI and growth as content themes, but does not yet publish formal track names. source |
|---|---|
| Side events | The 2027 exhibitor schedule lists an exhibitor-only opening-night party on 2027-04-26, a VIP after-hours mixer on 2027-04-27 and a closing after-party on 2027-04-28. |
| Awards | At the completed 2026 conference, Sentry AI was named “Startup of the Year 2026.” |
| Call for speakers | Startup Grind says 2027 speaker applications are open. It invites speaker suggestions and self-nominations and seeks firsthand founder, builder, operator, research or investing experience, a differentiated point of view and practical lessons useful to founders. source |
| Official app | Brella |
Past editions, as published
| Edition | Dates | Attendees | Investors | Startups | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 · Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley) · Completed. Sentry AI was named Startup of the Year (2026); it reported meeting 40 investors (2026). source | Apr 27–29, 2026 | — | — | 150 selected startups (2026) | recap · video · photos |
| 2025 · Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley) source | Apr 29–30, 2025 | 5,000 startups, investors, and innovative organizations (2025) | — | — | |
| 2024 · Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley) source | Apr 23–24, 2024 | — | — | — | |
| 2023 · Silicon Valley, California · The organizer reported that exhibitor alumni Airalo raised a $60M Series B and Swit raised $40M after exhibiting (2023 historical account). source | Apr 11–12, 2023 | — | — | 5,000 startups (2023) | |
| 2022 · Redwood City, California · Hybrid event. source | Apr 11–14, 2022 | — | — | 3,000 startups and scale-ups (2022) | |
| 2021 · Virtual · Virtual edition. source | Feb 23–25, 2021 | 20,000 reached globally (2021) | — | — | |
| 2019 · Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley) source | Feb 12–13, 2019 | — | — | — | |
| 2018 · Silicon Valley source | Feb 13–14, 2018 | 5,000 founders and investors (2018) | — | 50+ exhibiting startups (2018) | |
| 2013 · Silicon Valley, California · The organizer identifies this as year one of the conference. source | Feb 5–6, 2013 | 500 early adopters (2013) | — | — | |
| 2020 · Silicon Valley · Sold out; the organizer described it as the last large conference before the global shutdown (2020). The edition had 8 content stages (2020). source | — | 10,000 attendees (2020) | — | — | |
| 2017 · The organizer’s conference history groups the 2017–2019 editions together and notes that the startup exhibition program launched during this period. source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2016 · Redwood City, California · The organizer says it moved to a larger Redwood City venue in 2016. source | — | 3,000 attendees (2016) | — | — | |
| 2014 source | — | 1,000 attendees (2014) | — | — |
Cities: Redwood City, California (moved there in 2016; the 2021 conference was online)
Formerly: Startup Grind Global Conference
Official links and socials
Travel & apps
Prepare for it
- How to cold email VCs — book the meetings before you land.
- The 12-slide seed deck — what to have ready when a partner says "send me the deck".
- Pitch Deck Roaster — a slide-by-slide pass before you submit to Startup Exhibition pitch sessions (2027); no separate conference pitch contest announced.
- Accelerator deadlines — the application windows that open around the event.
Sources
Every fact above was read from one of these official pages on Oct 7, 2026:
- luma.com/lvcq9epq
- facebook.com/StartupGrind
- facebook.com/StartupGrind/posts/thousands-of-startups-applied-to-be-part-of-the-startup-grind-conference-2026150/1491778255635816
- instagram.com/p/DXwW3PDEWov?img_index=5
- instagram.com/startup
- linkedin.com/company/startup-grind
- startupgrind.com/conference/2017
- startupgrind.com/conference/2018
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-atlanta-presents-global-conference-2021
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-hosted-startup-grind-2013-conference
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-presents-global-conference-1
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-global-conference-2022
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-global-conference-2023
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-global-conference-2024
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-startup-grind-conference
- startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-startup-grind-conference-2025
- startupgrind.tech
- startupgrind.tech/about-us
- startupgrind.tech/agenda
- startupgrind.tech/conference
- startupgrind.tech/event-app
- startupgrind.tech/exhibition
- startupgrind.tech/founders-ecosystem-bundle-tickets
- startupgrind.tech/speakers
- startupgrind.tech/startup-exhibitors
- startupgrind.tech/tickets
- threads.com/@startup
- youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6AD_bWsx2JXoy0medKgZCPdc6tD3pufd
- x.com/StartupGrind
Startup Grind Global Conference: frequently asked
When is Startup Grind Global Conference 2027?
Startup Grind Global Conference 2027 runs Apr 27–28, 2027 at Fox Theatre, Redwood City, according to the organiser's published dates.
How much does Startup Grind Global Conference cost?
Published ticket prices run $299–$1,399 (2027). The current homepage shows special-launch prices of $299, $399 and $799 (2027); a separate 2027 ticket page lists $499, $599 and $1,399 as coming-soon prices.. Startups: The Startup Exhibition is a separate, selective exhibitor programme: apply online, choose or be guided to the Startup or Scaleup track, and secure a place after acceptance. This is distinct from purchasing a Startup Ticket for general attendance. ($2,999 for Startup Exhibition and $4,999 for Scaleup Exhibition (2027).).
How do startups get into Startup Grind Global Conference?
The Startup Exhibition is a separate, selective exhibitor programme: apply online, choose or be guided to the Startup or Scaleup track, and secure a place after acceptance. This is distinct from purchasing a Startup Ticket for general attendance. Eligibility as published: Startup Exhibition: bootstrapped to seed. Scaleup Exhibition: seed to Series A. The organiser says it looks for tech startups with a repeatable, scalable business model and accepts companies from anywhere in the world (2027 programme).
How many investors attend Startup Grind Global Conference?
The organiser reports 1,000+ investors scouting investors for the 2026 edition. For exhibiting startups, the organiser describes pre-booked meetings with investors, a pitch to investors active in the startup’s industry, and a roundtable for feedback. Attendees can set up Brella profiles and book meetings; the exhibitor programme also offers an on-site meeting lounge.
What is Startup Exhibition pitch sessions (2027); no separate conference pitch contest announced?
Startup Grind Global Conference's pitch competition. Eligibility: Accepted Startup Exhibition and Scaleup Exhibition companies pitch to curated investors; the published tracks are bootstrapped-to-seed and seed-to-Series A (2027).
How big is Startup Grind Global Conference?
5,000+ people in the room attendees (2026), 150+ exhibiting startups startups, per the organiser.