Transformers Mixer: an AI x Infrastructure Happy Hour @SFTechWeek
Kick off your #SFTechWeek at our Transformer's Mixer! Join fellow founders, investors and AI enthusiasts to share insights, network and enjoy some transformer-themed fun. Let's wire up new connections and amplify the future of “transformer” technologies!
Hosted By:
Event Details:
Our moderated panel will explore the future of AI and its infrastructure with leading AI entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers. Enjoy cocktails and charcuterie during the discussion, then connect with panelists and attendees during our networking session.
Panelists:
Dr. Amr Awadallah, CEO and Co-Founder of Vectara
Vectara is transforming information retrieval across all languages using advanced AI. Dr. Awadallah previously co-founded Cloudera (NYSE: CLDR) and served as Global CTO, and was also Google Cloud’s VP of Developer Relations. His academic credentials include a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and degrees from Cairo University.
Dr. Yangqing Jia, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Lepton.ai
Lepton AI is a developer-centric platform that enables AI apps to run efficiently at scale. Dr. Jia, renowned for creating CAFFE at Berkeley, has been instrumental in AI infrastructure, serving as the founding engineer and director of Facebook’s AI infrastructure, as well as VP of AI & Analytics at Alibaba. His deep experience spans roles at Google Brain and beyond, with a PhD from UC Berkeley.
Trevor Mottl, Partner at Fusion Fund
Trevor Mottl is a Partner at Fusion Fund, and also formerly a Managing Director and Artificial Intelligence Portfolio Manager at Lazard Asset Management. Trevor brings tremendous knowledge in bridging the gap between legacy business processes and disruptive technology particularly in enterprise, AI and financial applications. He has over 20 years of experience in asset management at Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and global hedge funds.
Moderated By:
Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund
Lu is a renowned Silicon Valley-based investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna. At the age of 21, she built a company based on her graduate school research at Stanford University. Following the acquisition of her startup by a leading public company, Lu began investing in and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, which eventually led her to create Fusion Fund in 2015. The fund is currently deploying capital from the new Fund IV to early-stage opportunities in enterprise AI, AI infrastructure, healthcare and industry automation. Lu was honored as Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum (Davos), Silicon Valley Women of Influence, Best 25 Female early-stage investor by Business Insider, Featured Honoree of VC of Forbes 30 under 30 and Town & Country 50 Modern Swans - Entrepreneurship Influencer.
This event is a part of #TechWeek - a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem.
About Us:
Fusion Fund
Fusion Fund is a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley that targets Pre-seed to Series A companies in healthcare, enterprise AI, and industry automation. Since 2015, with investments in over 90 companies across North America, the Fusion Fund team has been dedicated to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs who build disruptive technology that drives systemic changes. Founder and Managing Partner Lu Zhang is a serial entrepreneur and Stanford technologist with extensive experience bringing a broad range of technologies to commercialization. Shane Wall, Partner and President of the Fusion Fund CXO Network, is the former CTO of Hewlett-Packard and a member of the White House Science & Technology Council. The Fusion Fund team comprises technologists, former entrepreneurs, and industry leaders.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers, including thousands of the fastest-growing startups, use AWS to build fast, keep costs low, and prove what’s possible. https://aws.amazon.com/startups or reach out to Kate Niedermeyer at kmn@amazon.com.
Brix
Brix is an AI-driven recruitment solution that assists companies in hiring and managing global tech talent. Powered by an AI agent, Brix offers a one-stop solution for sourcing, vetting, and onboarding global tech talents. This system enables companies to operate without a traditional HR department, offering a 10x faster hiring experience at 40% of the original HR costs. In three years, Brix grew its monthly transactions from 6,000 to 1 million, serving over 500 companies and 100,000 engineers.
CIBC Innovation Banking
CIBC Innovation Banking is a trusted financial partner to entrepreneurs and investors. Backed by the strength of CIBC, the team delivers strategic advice, cash management and debt capital to innovative companies across North America, the UK, and select European countries at each stage of their business cycle, from start up to IPO and beyond. The Innovation Banking team has over two decades of experience supporting the venture ecosystem and a strong, collaborative approach that extends across CIBC’s commercial banking, private banking, wealth management and capital markets businesses.