Smart AI 100 2026
Every seat earned at the most curated AI Summit in SF, fast-growing venture-backed AI founders (Seed–IPO), leading VCs backed top AI companies, enterprise CIOs, Fortune 500 corporate buyers and partnership leads, and frontier AI researchers. Everyone handpicked.
Spaces are limited to ensure high-quality interactions and meaningful connections.
📅 When: Thursday, September 3, 2026 | 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
📍 Where: Theater in SOMA, heart of SF
🍝 Breakfast, Lunch, Networking, After Party (Secret Venue)
🎤 Programing: https://www.smartventuremedia.com
🧑 Attendees: VCs, execs from well-known tech companies, hand-picked AI founders. Not a massive conference. Not a private dinner. Something in between, and harder to get into than both.
🎫 Ticket: $1400
Speakers include:
Grace Gong — Founder & CEO, Smart Venture Media
Jeetu Patel — President & Chief Product Officer, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Marc Boroditsky — CRO, Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS)
Amit Zavery — President, Chief Product Officer & COO, ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW)
Abbas — Chief Customer Officer, Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM)
Emilio Escobar — CISO, Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG)
Adam Ely — GM of AI Security, Check Point (NASDAQ: CHKP)
Alex Mashrabov — CEO, Higgsfield ($5.4B valuation)
Tim Shi — Co-Founder, Recursive ($4.65B valuation)
Debajyoti (Debo) Datta — Co-Founder, Hippocratic AI ($3.5B valuation)
Guy Marion — CMO & Growth, Chargebee ($3.5B valuation)
Wen Sang — COO, Genspark ($2.6B valuation)
Snehal Antani — CEO, Horizon3 ($2B valuation)
Boris Sofman — CEO, Bedrock Robotics ($1.75B valuation)
Sri Viswanath — CEO, Sycamore ($65M raised); former CTO, Atlassian; former MD, Coatue
Marshall Choy — CBO, Rebellions ($2.34B valuation); former Chief Customer Officer, SambaNova ($11B valuation)
Philip Rathle — CTO, Neo4j ($2B valuation)
Spiros Xanthos — CEO, Resolve AI ($1.5B valuation)
Jake Stauch — CEO, Serval ($1B valuation)
Alex Stamos — Chief Product Officer, Corridor ($200M valuation); former CSO, Facebook
Yousuf Khan — Founder, Clario; former CIO, Moveworks ($2.1B, acquired by ServiceNow)
Joel de la Garza — Investment Partner, a16z (~$106B AUM)
Aaron Jacobson — Partner, NEA (~$35.6B AUM)
Lauri Moore — Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners (~$20B AUM)
Ashish Kakran — Managing Partner, Seligman Ventures (~$43B AUM at parent)
Jordan Segall — Partner, Redpoint (~$6.3B AUM)
Jake Saper — General Partner, Emergence Capital (~$3.8B AUM)
David Kwon — Partner, Abstract (~$3.3B AUM)
Lance Matthews — Partner, DTCP Growth (~$458M AUM)
Dan Mishin — Founder, Manifest ($750M valuation)
Omar Haroun — CEO, Eudia ($508M valuation)
Rong Yan — CTO, HeyGen ($500M valuation)
Andrew Dai — CEO, Elorian ($300M valuation)
Gaurav Bhogale — Partner, Mantis VC (~$227M AUM)
Brian Zhan — Partner, Striker Venture Partners (~$168M AUM)
Yogi Goel — CEO, Maxima ($143M valuation)
Jason Goodison — CTO, General Compute ($415M raised)
Anand Kannappan — CEO, Patronus AI ($70M raised)
Alberto Taiuti — CEO, Reactor ($59M raised)
Cheryl Cheng — Managing Director, M12 (Microsoft) (NASDAQ: MSFT parent)
Sources: Harmonic funding data + public market data as of mid-August 2026.
Many thanks to our amazing sponsors:
Founding Partners
Innovation Partners
Ecosystem Partner
Wayo
Strategic Partners
About Your Host: Grace Gong - Leading VC Podcast Host & Angel Investor
Grace hosts a top VC podcast called smart venture podcast (SVPpro.com); past guests, including C-level/ VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Adidas, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Pinterest, Notion, Cisco, Walmart, Microsoft, Snowflake etc; Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founder of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, Glean etc.) She is doing a daily LinkedIn Live podcast featuring a VC/ founder/ exec.
This exclusive event brings together AI startups seeking strategic connections to accelerate market expansion. Engage directly with influential VCs, Fortune 500 decision-makers eager to adopt innovative AI solutions, and visionary founders who’ve successfully scaled groundbreaking technologies. Spaces are limited to maintain intimacy and high-quality interactions.
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