👋 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.

Happy Monday! I’m in SF Thursday till Monday hosting a few events. Looking forward to seeing some of you soon! Quick question for you as I start planning more SF events for the months to come:

Let’s get to it.

Safeguard Your Startup’s IP Now

Have you double-checked that your patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and license agreements are truly secure? A quick mistake can cost millions later.

HPL Law’s IP Check-Up makes sure:

  • Ownership is in your current company’s name

  • Every assignment is signed and recorded with the right agency

  • Renewal and maintenance fees are paid on time and calendared for the future

  • You have one clean dashboard that shows what you own, the correct numbers, where the evidence lives, and who is on the hook for updates

Skip the guesswork. Know exactly where your creative assets stand before your next fundraise, product launch, or M&A convo.

Need a pro to walk you through it?

Email Anooj Patel at [email protected] today and protect what you have in mind.

Reply to this email if you want to sponsor this newsletter.

🌁 Upcoming Events We’re Hosting 🌁

🗓️ February 19: Curated Founder Dinner. SF. 6:30 - 9 pm. Sponsored by Fidelity Private Shares and Mercury.

🗓️ March 19: Curated Founder Dinner. SF. 6:30 - 9 pm. Sponsored by Rho.

🗓️ March 20: Curated Founder Breakfast. SF. 8 - 10 am.

⭐️ Featured Upcoming Event ⭐️

👋 This Week in SF 👋

🗓️ February 16: Community Lunch! Mid-Market. 12 - 1:30 pm.

🗓️ February 17: Community Lunch! Mid-Market. 12 - 1:30 pm.

🗓️ February 18: Community Lunch! Mid-Market. 12 - 1:30 pm.

🗓️ February 18: Founder Mixer. Mission District. 6 - 8 pm.

🗓️ February 19: Community Lunch! Mid-Market. 12- 1:30 pm.

🗓️ February 19: AEO Conf 2026. Financial District. 1 - 7 pm.

🗓️ February 19: Hardware Pitch Night. Dolores Heights. 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

👀 Coming Soon 👀

🗓️ March 5: Snafu Conference. Oakland. Register with the code SFGRIND for a free ticket.

Reply to this email to submit an event for consideration in the next edition

Top 5 SF Startup & VC Firm Jobs

Lead Product Designer @ AIVideo.com

Associate @ Mighty Capital

👋 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 with the 2,000+ subscribers of this newsletter.

The Compression Company, a provider of a data compression platform, raised a $3.4M Pre-Seed round led by Long Journey.

Ever, a company providing an AI-native auto retail platform, raised a $31M Series A led by Eclipse.

Big Health, a developer of digital treatments for mental health conditions, raised a $23.7M round led by .406 Ventures and AlleyCorp.

Ando, a company building AI infrastructure for the global hourly workforce, raised a $4M Seed round led by Slow Ventures.

The Biological Computing Co. (TBC), a brain’s intelligence company, raised a $25M Seed round led by Primary.

Reflow, a provider of a workforce and workflow intelligence platform, raised a $15M+ Seed round.

Opaque, a confidential AI company for enterprise AI, raised a $24M Series B led by Walden Catalyst.

Loyal, a clinical-stage animal health company, raised a $100M Series C led by age1.

Smart Bricks, an AI startup building agentic AI infrastructure for real-estate investing, raised a $5M Pre-Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Hubbl Technologies, a provider of an AI-driven platform designed to optimize business systems, raised a $6M Series A led by Salesforce Ventures.

Trener Robotics, a developer of an AI robot skills platform for manufacturing, raised a $32M Series A co-led by Engine Ventures and IAG Capital Partners.

Simple AI, a voice AI agent platform provider, raised a $14M Seed round led by First Harmonic.

Solace Health, a company that provides patient-centric healthcare advocacy layer services, raised a $130M Series C was led by IVP.

Newo, a provider of an AI platform that turns customer conversations into revenue, raised a $25M Series A led by Ratmir Timashev.

Bretton AI, a provider of an AI platform for financial crime operations, raised $75M in Series B led by Sapphire Ventures.

Deep Fission, a nuclear energy company, raised a $80M round backed by EE Holdings and Montrose Capital.

Modveon, a company that develops a verified operating system for governments and citizens, raised a $10M round backed by Coinbase Ventures, Firebolt Ventures and more.

Sentra.app, an enterprise general intelligence company, raised a $5M Seed round led by a16Z speedrun and Together Fund.

Phylo, a developer of an integrated environment for AI-native biology, raised a $13.5M Seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures’ Anthology Fund.

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