Deep Tech, Defense Tech, & Dual Use Investor & Founder Networking
- Date
- 2026-06-25
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Host
- Context, Community, Connections, & Capital
About this event
If you work at the intersection of deep tech, defense tech, and dual-use innovation, the hardest part is often not building the thing. It is finding the right people who understand the technical depth, the policy context, the procurement reality, and the pace required to turn serious technology into real-world impact. This gathering is designed to make those conversations easier, faster, and more useful. In a space where context matters, general startup networking often falls short. This event brings together founders and investors who are specifically interested in defense, dual-use technology, and the broader deep tech ecosystem, creating a room where the baseline understanding is already there and the discussion can move quickly to substance. About the Event This is an in-person networking event in San Francisco for people building, backing, and actively exploring companies in deep tech, defense tech, and dual-use sectors. The focus is straightforward: high-signal connections between founders and investors who care about technically ambitious businesses with commercial and strategic relevance. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, the event is centered on a specific community. That means conversations are more likely to touch on the issues that actually shape outcomes in this space: long development cycles, technical defensibility, government and commercial pathways, fundraising strategy, and how dual-use companies navigate both opportunity and complexity. The format is built around meeting people, exchanging context, and identifying real fit. Whether you are early in your company journey, actively raising, deploying capital, or mapping the market, this setting gives you a more efficient way to meet others who share your frame of reference. What to Expect Expect a professional but approachable atmosphere where introductions can quickly turn into informed conversations. Because the room is organized around a clear theme, you are less likely to spend time explaining the basics of your market and more likely to get into the details that matter: technical differentiation, customer pathways, capital needs, timing, and what makes a business durable. You can expect the event to support conversations such as: Founder-to-investor introductions around current or future fundraising Peer conversations between founders navigating similar market and product questions Investor discussions about themes, categories, and areas of active interest Cross-disciplinary networking among people interested in defense, dual-use, and frontier technologies This is also a strong environment for discovery. You may arrive looking for one specific kind of connection and leave with a broader picture of the ecosystem, including adjacent companies, emerging themes, or new perspectives on where demand and capital are moving. For many attendees, the value will come from the density of relevant people in one place. Instead of taking scattered meetings over weeks, you can spend a focused block of time with others who are already engaged in this category and ready to have substantive conversations. Why Attend If you are building in deep tech or defense-adjacent markets, access to the right network can change the speed and quality of your decisions. This event helps shorten the distance between idea, insight, and introduction by bringing together people who understand the stakes and constraints of the sector. For founders, that can mean meeting investors who appreciate technically complex companies and the realities of longer timelines, regulatory friction, or government-facing pathways. It can also mean meeting other builders who can share pattern recognition around hiring, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, and how to communicate dual-use value clearly. For investors, the event offers a concentrated way to meet founders and track where energy is building across defense and dual-use technology. It is useful both for active sourcing and for staying close to the operators and technical communities shaping the next wave of companies. More broadly, this is a chance to spend time with people who take these sectors seriously. The best conversations in this space often happen when technical ambition meets practical execution, and that is exactly the kind of exchange this event is set up to encourage. Practical Details The event will take place in person in San Francisco, USA, on Thursday, June 25 at 12:00 PM PDT. Being in person matters here: these are often nuanced conversations, and face-to-face meetings can make it easier to establish trust, assess fit, and continue discussions beyond a quick introduction. Because the event is centered on networking, it is worth arriving ready to talk clearly about what you are building, investing in, or exploring. A concise introduction, a strong sense of what kinds of people you want to meet, and a willingness to ask thoughtful questions will help you get more out of the time. A few ways to prepare: Be ready to explain your company, thesis, or area of interest in a few clear sentences Think about the specific connections you want to make Bring context on your current stage, priorities, or investment focus Leave room for unexpected conversations that may lead to future opportunities If your work sits anywhere in the overlap between advanced technology, national security, commercial applications, and long-term technical advantage, this is the kind of room where a single introduction can lead to something meaningful.
Who should attend
This is for people who want more relevant conversations than a general tech meetup can offer. - **You are a founder building in deep tech, defense tech, or dual-use technology** and want to meet investors and peers who already understand technical complexity, long timelines, and nontraditional go-to-market paths. - **You are an investor exploring or actively backing these sectors** and want efficient access to founders, market signals, and others tracking where the most compelling opportunities are emerging. - **You are raising capital now or expect to in the future** and want to build relationships with people who understand how companies in these categories grow and finance differently from standard software startups. - **You are an operator, technical leader, or ecosystem builder** working close to defense or dual-use innovation and want to expand your network within a focused, high-context community. - **You care about technologies with both commercial and strategic relevance** and want to meet others thinking seriously about adoption, deployment, and long-term impact. - **You value substance over volume in networking** and prefer a room where people can skip the basic explanations and get straight to meaningful discussion.