Silicon Valley’s leading pre-seed startup pitch event where founders connect with global investors.
Where Founders Go Global.
The Founder Showcase is Silicon Valley’s leading international startup pitch event, hosted by Founder Institute — the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator.
This free online event connects early-stage founders, investors, and startup leaders worldwide to share ideas, pitch innovations, and learn from top venture capitalists.
Since 2009, visionaries like Elon Musk and startups like Udemy and Thumbtack have taken our stage — making the Founder Showcase a launchpad for tomorrow’s success stories.
Keynote Speaker
Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Everywhere Ventures, Jenny Fielding is a two-time founder and one of the world’s most active pre-seed investors — having backed over 300 startups as the first money in.
In her keynote, Jenny will share fresh insights into the startup funding landscape, how to build and scale in the age of AI, and lessons from her book Venture Everywhere — a must-read for founders looking to think globally and build boldly from day one.
Present Speakers
AI-powered platform helping enterprises mitigate third-party risks across cybersecurity, data privacy, and compliance.
FOUNDER & CEO AT ENGAIZ
CO-FOUNDER AT JSMON
Protects applications with AI-driven security, preventing secrets exposure and client-side vulnerabilities at scale.
CO-FOUNDER & CEO AT WEEKONE
Empowers fast-growing startups to create data-driven onboarding experiences that boost team performance.
CEO AT GROWWR AI
Uses AI and smart job-matching to help recruiters find and hire vetted talent faster and with greater precision
The Founder Showcase began in 2009 with a simple mission: to democratize access to Silicon Valley.
What started as a 150-person gathering has evolved into a global online event, featuring hundreds of founders, investors, and startup leaders every quarter.
Over the years, 16 in-person events and dozens of online editions have helped early-stage startups raise biin funding.
Our stage has hosted icons like Elon Musk, Naval Ravikant, and Rebecca Enonchong, along with breakout startups such as Udemy, Turo, and Thumbtack.
From a small Silicon Valley meetup to a global stage where the world’s top founders and investors connect.
Big Names. Breakout Startups. See Who’s Taken the Stage
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![A man with short brown hair, wearing a white shirt and a gray vest, smiling in an indoor setting.]()
Elon Musk
CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX
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![Portrait of a woman with brown hair and fair skin wearing a black top against a black background.]()
Lauren Kolodny
Founding Partner at Acrew Capital
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![A man with curly hair and tan skin, wearing a gray jacket, smiling in an indoor setting with blurred background.]()
Naval Ravikant
Co-author of Venture Hacks, and Co-founder of AngelList
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![A woman with dark hair smiling outdoors, blurred background with buildings, wearing a yellow top with a pattern and gold hoop earrings.]()
Yamini Rangan
CEO at HubSpot
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![A man with short red hair, smiling, wearing a black shirt, holding a smartphone for a selfie in an indoor setting.]()
Jason Calacanis
CEO of Mahalo.com
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![A man with wavy brown hair wearing a white shirt and black suit jacket, smiling, standing indoors near a large window.]()
David Sacks
Founder of Craft Ventures
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![A woman with short, reddish-brown hair standing in front of a bookshelf filled with colorful books.]()
Cyan Bannister
Author & Investor
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![Portrait of a man wearing glasses and a dark blazer, with a neutral expression, standing against a blue background.]()
Phil Libin
Cofounder and CEO at Airtime Tools
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![A man with short dark hair, wearing a dark brown shirt, smiling against a gray background.]()
Keith Rabois
Managing Director at Khosla Ventures.
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![A woman with long blonde hair smiling, with a colorful background of red, yellow, and green squares.]()
Christine Herron
Early-stage investor and diversity advocate
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![Portrait of a man with light brown hair, wearing a dark gray shirt, smiling outdoors with greenery in the background.]()
Chris Dixon
Founder & Managing Partner, a16z crypto
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![Portrait of a smiling older woman with long gray hair, wearing a light-colored sweater, pearl earrings, and layered necklaces, against a gray background.]()
Esther Dyson
Author & Investor
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![A smiling middle-aged man with gray hair, wearing a blue and white checkered button-up shirt, at a social gathering or event.]()
Mark Suster
General Partner at Upfront Ventures
Over the years, startups that debuted at the Founder Showcase have gone on to raise billions in funding and build world-changing companies. Here are just a few alumni who first pitched their ideas on our stage — before taking off globally.
Hall of Fame
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![Tedium logo with a purple arrow pointing up above the word 'Tedium' in black text.]()
Udemy is the global leader in online learning, with nearly 200,000 courses. The company went public on the NASDAQ in October 2021 (UDMY), raising $421 million.
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![A black directional sign with a large arrow pointing to the right, displaying the word 'TURO' in white uppercase letters.]()
Formerly known as Relay Rides, the peer-to-peer car-sharing platform raised $500M+ from Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and others.
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![Logo of Thumback with a stylized number 1 in a circular shape next to the text]()
Thumbtack — The first-ever Founder Showcase Champion has raised over $750M, with investors like Jason Calacanis.
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![Kaggle logo in blue lowercase letters]()
Just months after pitching at the Founder Showcase, Kaggle raised $11M in Series A funding led by Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures — and later secured a total of $16M across two rounds before being acquired by Google in 2017.
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![Gushcloud]()
Gushcloud raised US$14.5 million, including an US$11 million Series A led by GDP Ventures with KB Investment, Golden Equator, and Korea Investment Partners — fueling its global expansion across the US and Asia.
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![PetHub logo with a dog and a cat, and the tagline 'Lost Pets Get Home Faster'.]()
PetHub has raised over US $4.6 million and now helps more than 1 million pet-parents, with ~96% of lost pets reunited in under 24 hours.
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![KnightScope logo with a stylized 'K' and the company name in blue.]()
Knightscope has raised over US$140 million across 25 funding rounds and went public on the NASDAQ in January 2022 under the ticker KSCP, driving its mission to deploy autonomous security robots globally.
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![Futuristic logo with a sword and a robotic eye, with the text 'NEOFICUS']()
Nexercise raised over $1.3 million to grow Sworkit — one of the world’s top-rated fitness apps — after graduating from Techstars and attracting strategic investment from Militello Capital.
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![Cipherpoint]()
CipherPoint secured a capital raise of US $750K in January 2023 to accelerate commercial expansion, building on its earlier status as a “SINET 16 Innovator” in data-security excellence.
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![Logo for Tripping with an orange curved line connecting two orange dots above the word 'tripping' in orange lowercase letters.]()
Just months after pitching at the Founder Showcase, Tripping raised seed funding led by Quest Venture Partners and later closed a $16 M Series B to fuel global expansion across 100,000+ destinations.
Ready to Pitch on the Global Stage?
The Founder Showcase is where founders gain visibility, traction, and investor connections.
If you’re building a pre-seed tech startup with less than $250K in funding, this is your chance to pitch to a global audience of investors, mentors, and startup leaders.
Past presenters include Udemy, Turo, Thumbtack, and Kaggle — startups that made their first public pitch here before scaling worldwide.
Apply now to pitch your startup at the next Founder Showcase and join the ranks of founders who raised over $3B after taking our stage.
Real stories from founders who pitched, connected, and grew through the Founder Showcase.
"At the event, we met an angel investor who ended up participating in our seed round. The experience was crucial for the growth of our startup, and we’re grateful for the event’s support."
"The Founder Showcase exceeded our expectations with an incredible audience of investors, founders, and industry experts. Our experience was extremely positive, with steady traffic at our booth and an excellent return on investment."
“Winning The Founder Showcase was the best thing that happened to MightyMeeting. The event started the chain reaction that led to the company’s seed round in just a few short weeks … Big thanks to TheFunded team.”
"The event was essential for showcasing our product to key evaluators and making important connections with investors and business partners. We received a tremendous return on investment and look forward to future Founder Showcase events."
“As an entrepreneur in the Bay Area, the sheer number of networking events can be overwhelming at times. The Founder Showcase event is professional, the crowd is diverse, the visibility is superb. My company had a demo table at the last event which highlighted my startup and attracted a network of investors, reporters, qualified job seekers and fellow entrepreneurs. I still benefit from the connections made that night and look forward to future events.
“We had a great time at the Founder Showcase. The event gave Skydera a chance to connect with the Investment and startup communities, leading to several follow up meetings on Sand Hill road. Good times and we look forward to the next event.”
Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses.
Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 8,000 founders raise $1.9B+ in funding.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley and active in 100+ countries, we empower talented and motivated people everywhere to build impactful technology companies.