Startup networking events, city by city.
One format an evening, a room small enough to finish a conversation, and every guest checked in against the list at the door. Pick a city, pick a date.
- evenings ahead
- 51evenings ahead
- cities
- 17cities
- countries
- 13countries
The calendar
Every evening ahead
This weekSep 21 – 27
2 evenings
- 25Sep
- 25Sep
Next weekSep 28 – Oct 4
8 evenings
- 30Sep
- 30Sep
- 30Sep
- 1Oct
Oct 5 – 11
5 evenings
- 6Oct
- 6Oct
- 7Oct
- 9Oct
Oct 12 – 18
5 evenings
- 15Oct
Oct 19 – 25
9 evenings
- 22Oct
Oct 26 – Nov 1
5 evenings
- 28Oct
Nov 2 – 8
4 evenings
Nov 9 – 15
5 evenings
Nov 16 – 22
4 evenings
Nov 23 – 29
4 evenings
Pick your city
Every city has its own hub.
17 of 29 cities have an evening on the calendar, across 13countries. The hub holds that city's dates, its past evenings and its community door.
United States
Europe
The formats
Five kinds of evening. One reason each.
Open a format to see how the evening runs, what you leave with and who it is for. Each one links to its upcoming dates.
Present & discuss29 upcomingStartup Pitch Night
Bring your startup into a room of people who can ask the questions you have not heard yet.Next: New York · Wed, Sep 30
How the evening runs
- 01An hour to arrive and meet the room.
- 02Founders pitch one after another, five to eight minutes each depending on how many present that night; the room asks the questions you have not heard yet.
- 03Then the themed tables: topics are published before the night and you vote on them, up to five per evening. At the event you pick the table closest to what you are building, and the conversation goes deeper than a Q&A allows.
- 04Pitching is by application, reviewed by a person. The audience needs only a ticket.
What you leave with
- The questions your idea has to answer next, from people who have raised, built and shipped at your stage.
- Two or three people to follow up with, saved before you leave.
- If you pitched: your startup enters our base with the evening and the date on record, which is what the Monday digest is built from.
Who it is for
Founders with something to show, pre-seed to seed. Investors and operators who want to hear an idea early and ask the hard question.
Why it is worth itYou have been workshopping the idea alone, or with a chatbot. This is the room that tells you what is actually wrong with it, and what is right.
Products & people11 upcomingAI & Tech Networking
Meet founders and specialists working with AI and technology in your city.Next: Melbourne · Fri, Sep 25
How the evening runs
- 01Two short talks from people currently building, fifteen minutes each, so the room has a shared starting point.
- 02Then the open floor: what you are building and what is in your way. Sectors are declared up front, so you know who you are talking to.
- 03No panel and no pitch stage.
What you leave with
- The technical people in your city working on the same class of problem.
- Feedback on the product from people who would build or use it.
- A shortlist of who to talk to about a hire, a stack decision or a co-founder search.
Who it is for
Engineers, technical founders and product people. Built for the people writing the code and shipping the product, not only the commercial side of the table.
Why it is worth itMost technical meetups are a talk with networking bolted on the end. This one is the other way round.
Meet the people5 upcomingFounders & Investor Mixer
An evening without a stage: founders, investors and operators in one room. You write your role and your ask on your badge; introductions are made on request.Next: Sydney · Fri, Sep 25
How the evening runs
- 01The first hour is for arriving and finding your people.
- 02You write your role and your ask on your badge, so a conversation starts with what you need rather than what you do.
- 03Hosts make introductions on request through the evening; nobody is left to luck at the bar.
- 04The night closes with the city chat open, so the conversation has somewhere to continue.
What you leave with
- Three or four conversations that went somewhere, with the names saved.
- A clear picture of who is building what in your city.
- A place in the city community layer, in beta, to keep the thread going.
Who it is for
Founders at any stage, investors who would rather meet a founder than read a deck, and operators who have done the job. The most open of the five formats.
Why it is worth itIt is the room where the other four formats begin: the people you meet here are the ones who pitch, invest and answer later.
Meet the team behind the idea3 upcomingInvestor Connect
See what founders are building locally and have a conversation beyond an introductory email.Next: Montreal · Tue, Sep 29
How the evening runs
- 01Investors arrive first and meet the hosts.
- 02Founders present short, stage-appropriate pitches. No demo theatre.
- 03The second half is one-to-one conversations, matched by thesis and stage rather than left to the crowd.
- 04Founders apply to present and investors are approved on application. A ticket alone does not put you on either list.
What you leave with
- Founders: investors who heard the story from you, not from a forwarded deck, and introductions we arrange afterwards, warm only.
- Investors: founders met in person, with the evening and the date on record, and no cold decks in your inbox.
- Both: a place in the Monday digest loop.
Who it is for
Founders raising now, pre-seed to Series A, and investors who want to meet them in person before a deck arrives. Angels, scouts and syndicate leads most often.
Why it is worth itAn introduction that starts in a room lasts longer than one that starts in a subject line. Investor attendance on a given night is never guaranteed; the base and the digest work every week.
Explore a partnership3 upcomingCo-Founder Matching
Get to know someone you could build with through a conversation about real work.Next: San Francisco · Fri, Oct 9
How the evening runs
- 01Everyone states the problem they are working on, in a sentence.
- 02You pair up and work on real problems, then rotate, so you work with several people in one evening.
- 03At the end you say who you would keep going with, and so do they.
- 04Nobody leaves with a co-founder that night, and that is the honest version.
What you leave with
- Two or three people you have actually worked with for an hour, which tells you more than any coffee.
- A follow-up plan with the ones who said yes.
- A clearer statement of what you need in a partner.
Who it is for
Founders looking for a technical or commercial half, and people who want to build but not alone.
Why it is worth itCo-founder speed dating does not work: you cannot tell how someone thinks from a two-minute introduction. So the evening is built around working on something instead.
Not yetFounder Table. Eight founders at the same stage around one table, by application after your first evening with us. First tables in October: Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Met in person, approved on application, checked at the door: three different checks. None of them is a rating.
The network doesn't end when you leave the room.
Everyone you meet at an evening lands in the Ascent Valley app: checked in, searchable, and matched to you long after the night is over. Opens in Slack, your browser or Telegram. No new account.
What the app looks like. Rows are roles, not people; nothing here is a count.
The invitation to your city's community arrives right after you buy.
Set your tags and what you are looking for before the night.
Local, Across or Global: the app surfaces the right people and keeps the thread going.
Can't make it to a city? Get the digest.
Every Monday, a digest of startups we met in person, put together by hand. Introductions are made by us, warm only, with no percentage of any deal.
Apply as an investorBefore you book
What people ask before their first evening.
Do I need a startup to attend?
No. The room is built around founders, but investors and operators (product, engineering, marketing, people who have done the job) are who founders come to meet. Each format says who it is for, and the event page repeats it for that evening.
Who will I actually meet?
Founders from pre-seed to Series A, engineers and product people, operators who have done the job, and investors when the format is Investor Connect or a pitch night. Sectors are declared up front, so you know who you are talking to before you register.
How do you know who is actually in the room?
Every guest is checked against a real profile when they register and checked in against the list at the door. It is a check, not a rating: it tells you the people you meet are who they say they are, nothing more.
Can I pitch my startup?
At Pitch Nights and Investor Connect evenings, by application. A ticket lets you attend; a separate application, reviewed by a person, puts you on the list to present. Read how pitching works before you apply.
Will investors be there?
Sometimes, and we never promise it for a given night. Investors come to Investor Connect and to some pitch nights; they are approved on application and are not used as bait. Introductions to investors are made by us afterwards, through the Monday digest, and we take no percentage of any deal.
How do I register, and where is my ticket?
Open the event page and use its ticket button. It takes you to the platform that sells that evening, Eventbrite or Luma; your ticket and confirmation come from there, to the email you used. Right after the purchase you also get two emails from us: an invitation to our Luma calendar and an invitation to your city's community. Each evening is sold in one place only, and refunds follow that ticket page's terms.
How much does it cost?
Some evenings are free; most are paid. The price is on the event page and on the ticket page, in the local currency. A paid ticket is the filter that keeps the room small enough for conversations to finish.
What happens after the evening?
You are in your city's community from the moment you buy the ticket: the invitation arrives with your purchase, and it opens in Slack, in the browser or in Telegram, three doors to one room. That is where the conversation continues and where the next date is announced. If you pitched, your startup enters our base with the evening and the date on record.
I am new in the city. Is this for me?
Yes. Most people in the room were new somewhere once. Come to a Mixer first: you write your role and your ask on your badge, and the hosts make the introductions.
Want to present? How pitching works. Investing? How introductions work.
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