Events

Where the network actually meets, in person.

Summits, mixers, pitch nights and partner-led events across 13 countries. Pick a city. Drop in.

30 of 52 events

Filters:

Upcoming events

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 & discuss30 upcoming

Startup Pitch Night

Bring your startup into a room of people who can ask the questions you have not heard yet.Next: San Francisco · Wed, Sep 23

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.

See 30 upcoming Startup Pitch Night evenings Next: San Francisco · Wed, Sep 23 How pitching works

Meet the people4 upcoming

Founders & 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.

See 4 upcoming Founders & Investor Mixer evenings Next: Sydney · Fri, Sep 25

Products & people12 upcoming

AI & Tech Networking

Meet founders and specialists working with AI and technology in your city.Next: Amsterdam · Wed, Sep 23

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.

See 12 upcoming AI & Tech Networking evenings Next: Amsterdam · Wed, Sep 23

Meet the team behind the idea3 upcoming

Investor 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.

See 3 upcoming Investor Connect evenings Next: Montreal · Tue, Sep 29 Apply as an investor

Explore a partnership3 upcoming

Co-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.

See 3 upcoming Co-Founder Matching evenings Next: San Francisco · Fri, Oct 9

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. Neither is a rating.

Community layerIn beta

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.

Ascent ValleySan FranciscoMember directorybeta

Coming on WednesdaySan Francisco · sorted by shared tags

fintech, hiring, co-founder

FintechAIHiringCo-founderSeedOperators

Founder · AI infra · pre-seed#AI#HiringComing Wed

Operator · growth, ex-Series B#GTM#B2BComing Wed

Investor · seed, B2B software#Seed#SaaSApproved

Founder · fintech · MVP#Fintech#Co-founderComing Wed

SlackWebTelegramThree doors, one room

What the app looks like. Rows are roles, not people; nothing here is a count.

Join with your ticket

The invitation to your city's community arrives right after you buy.

Your profile goes live

Set your tags and what you are looking for before the night.

Get matched

Local, Across or Global: the app surfaces the right people and keeps the thread going.

Join in SlackAlso on the web and Telegram. Free, in beta. Best after you have been to an evening.

Events by region

Every city has its own hub. Local team, recurring formats, and a community that already shows up.

Europe

United States

+8 more cities

Canada

Asia Pacific

MENA

For investors

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 investor

Before 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.

Host an event with us

Partner with us to co-host a city event, demo day or private dinner.

Become a host