👋 I’m Justin. I run The SF Grind, The LA Grind, and scout for Headline. I live in LA but spend a lot of time in San Francisco meeting founders, hosting gatherings, and enjoying the wonderful city. If I’m not writing this, I’m probably out on a run.
Welcome back to The SF Grind!
Before we dive in, I’m curious what brings people here. SF has no shortage of startup noise, but most people subscribe for very specific reasons.
Why did you subscribe to The SF Grind?
Let’s get to it.
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Polsinelli has a strong technology and emerging growth practice supporting founders from formation through fundraising and scale. They work with startups across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and major innovation hubs nationwide.
I’ve personally worked with Ephraim Hintz from their team, and he’s excellent if you ever need a warm intro or trusted guidance on anything legal.
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I’ll be hosting SF events soon! In the meantime, here are the best events I could find happening around the city this week.
👋 This Week in SF 👋
🗓️ December 15: Berkeley Master of Design 2025 Graduate Exhibition. Berkeley. 4 - 7 pm.
🗓️ December 15: Frontier AI Paper Reading Group: Post-NeurIPS 2025. South Beach. 5 - 7:30 pm.
🗓️ December 15: Cafe Compute: Big Chip Club Launch. El Embarcadero. 7 - 9 pm.
🗓️ December 15: Founder & Investor Holiday Happy Hour. San Francisco. 7 - 10 pm.
🗓️ Built on Bedrock: Gen AI Trends & Predictions. San Francisco. 5 - 7:30 pm.
🗓️ December 16: Battery & Energy Storage Meetup: De-Mystifying Battery Management System with Marcel Bouma. Distrito Financiero. 5:30 - 7 pm.
🗓️ December 16: Private FinTech Founders & Funders Dinner co-hosted with T. Rowe Price ($1T+ AUM) & Citi Ventures. San Francisco. 6 - 8 pm.
🗓️ December 16: AI Executive Dinner. Los Altos. 7 - 9:30 pm.
Reply to this email to submit an event for consideration in the next edition
Top 5 SF Startup & VC Firm Jobs
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer @ Verse Medical
Finance Manager @ Pear
Senior Product Designer @ Accord
VC Analyst @ San Francisco
👋 Hiring? Reply to this email to feature your job in this newsletter.
Other Opportunities
Know a founder or investor in SF who is raising capital or searching for a co-founder? Reply to this email with more details that I could share in this newsletter.
Valinor, an AI company leveraging machine learning models to increase the probability of clinical trial success, raised $13M in Seed funding. The round was led by CRV, Harpoon Ventures, Amino Collective, and Pelion Venture Partners.
Medra, a company developing a platform for physical AI scientists, raised $52M in Series A funding in a round was led by Human Capital.
Serval, a provider of a AI-native IT service management (ITSM) platform, raised $75M in Series B funding, achieving a $1 billion valuation. The round, which brings Serval’s total funding to $127 million was led by Sequoia.
On Me, a personalized digital gifting platform provider, raised $6M in seed funding in a round led by NFX.
Subsense, a Palo Alto-based developer of non-surgical invasive, nanoparticle-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), added $10M in funding. The investment came from Golden Falcon Capital.
Harness, an AI software delivery platform company, raised $240M in Series E funding. The round comprised a $200M investment led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and a planned $40M tender offer with participation from IVP, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures.
Bobyard, a provider of an AI platform helping contractors perform construction takeoffs and estimates, raised $35M in Series A funding in a round led by 8VC.
Outset, a provider of an AI-moderated research platform, raised $30M in Series B funding in a round led by Radical Ventures.
Surf, a provider of an AI-powered platform for digital assets, raised $15M in funding in a round led by Pantera Capital.
Cynch AI, a company which specializes in AI-native tax automation, raised $9M in funding in a round led by TGV.
Safebooks Inc., a financial data governance solutions provider, secured $15M in seed funding. The round was led by 10D, Propel Ventures, and Mensch Capital.
Kilo Code, an open source coding agent services provider, raised $8M in Seed funding in a round led by Cota Capital.
Empromptu AI, a company enabling enterprises to move from static SaaS to self-improving AI-native applications, raised $2M in pre-seed funding in a round led by Precursor Ventures.
Bon Credit, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform focused on Generation Z credit and debt management, raised $3.5M in funding in a round led by VenturesLab.
fal, a provider of a real-time generative-media platform, raised $140M in Series D funding in a round led by Sequoia.
Buildcheck, a provider of an AI-powered construction design review platform, raised $5.9M in Seed funding in a round led by Uncork Capital.
Resemble AI, a provider of a platform securing enterprise generative AI from creation to distribution, raised $13M in funding. Backers included Berkeley Frontier Fund, Comcast Ventures, Craft Ventures and more.
Honeyjar, a provider of an AI co-pilot service for communications & PR, raised $2M in Pre-Seed funding in a round led by Heather Hartnett and Kevin Mahaffey.
Airwallex, a San Francisco and Singapore-based provider of a financial platform for modern businesses, raised $330M in Series G funding, at $8 Billion valuation. The round was led by Addition.
Rotostitch, a manufacturing startup advancing automated textile manufacturing technologies, raised $1M in Pre-Seed funding in a round led by Boost VC and Nova Threshold.
Featured Location
El Dorado. A lively SoMa restaurant serving Latin-fusion cuisine inspired by Mexican, Peruvian, and Argentine flavors in a modern, vibrant setting.
Fun Events
See you next week,
Justin
P.S. Want to connect? Book a Call.