Futures✦
Sponsor theventure forum
October 2, 2026 · Kissel Uptown · Downtown Oakland
The opportunity
Following the success of our inaugural Venture Forum in March, we're bringing the event back with a decidedly Oakland flavor for Tech Week.
At the Kissel Uptown, in the heart of downtown Oakland, we'll convene 75–100 Tech Week attendees, including capital allocators, private-market investors, and startup founders, for an afternoon on the latest in startups and AI, and on the future of venture capital and economic mobility. Immediately after, the conversation continues at a rooftop networking reception.
75–100
Invited attendees
4
Main-stage sessions
1
Rooftop reception
Brand & positioning
Why this matters to your business
Category leadership is earned in rooms where the next decade is being argued out loud. Venture Forum brings capital allocators, private-market investors, and founders to Kissel Uptown for an afternoon on AI, venture, and economic mobility. Sponsorship can place your business inside that conversation as a host of it: on stage, in the program, and in every piece of content that follows.
Named presence across pre-event, on-site, and post-event marketing
Speaking time in front of an audience that decides where capital goes
Branded video content with a long tail well past October
T I E R S
Two ways to partner · October 2, 2026
Silver Sponsor
$20,000
Present in the room, the bag, and the recap.
- Logo on every attendee giveaway bag
- Logo and a 100-word company profile in the digital program
- Logo across pre-event marketing: event site, email, and social
- 5-minute interlude speaking slot between sessions
- 2 passes to the forum and rooftop reception
Title Sponsor
$50,000
Your name in the event lockup. One partner only.
- Event title lockup across all pre-event marketing
- Giveaway bags presented as your welcome bag, plus a branded insert item
- Cover placement and a full-page feature in the digital program
- Named in the post-event recap plus a dedicated thank-you post
- Co-branding throughout the post-event video, plus a standalone branded cut you own outright
- Full speaker slot on a main-stage panel
- Rooftop reception co-branding and 4 passes
Custom packages are available, including in-kind partnerships, reception hosting, and multi-event commitments included.
What you're attaching to
Confirmed programming · Tap a session to expand
We open the afternoon with a fireside featuring an Oakland-rooted innovator whose work has shaped how we build, invest, and scale. The highest-attention moment of the day, and the one most likely to be clipped and shared afterward.
Title sponsor is named in the opening welcome that leads into this session.
Bay Area tech has created extraordinary wealth, yet that prosperity often skips the communities it lives next to. This panel examines the gap between newcomer capital and longtime Oakland residents, and what closing it would actually require.
Available as a main-stage speaker slot for the title sponsor.
Catalytic capital, foundation investing, and community-aligned philanthropy can unlock outcomes traditional venture cannot. With the data center and Prometheus building coming to Oakland, we'll discuss what this investment means for the community and how we can leverage it for shared prosperity. We explore the models that are working, and how Oakland in particular can benefit.
Natural fit for mission-led and health-equity sponsors.
In a market where capital is increasingly commoditized, edge comes from network, operating experience, and on-the-ground know-how. We discuss what the next decade of venture leadership looks like.
Interlude speaking slots sit between this and the preceding session.
Who shares the stage
Our March forum drew the investors below. For October we're building a speaker slate in the same register, including an invitation to Colin Kaepernick for the Innovator's Fireside. Sponsors are named alongside this programming.
InvitedColin Kaepernick
Founder
Kaepernick Ventures
March forumCharles Hudson
General Partner
Precursor Ventures
March forumMonique Woodard
General Partner
Cake Ventures
March forumArjun Arora
Managing Partner
Format One
March forumMitch Kapor
Founder
Kapor Capital, Lotus
March forumJasmine Richards
Head of Diverse Manager Research
Cambridge Associates
March forumScott Beechuk
Partner
Norwest Venture Partners
March forumDavid York
Managing Director
Top Tier Capital
March forumNdu Ozor
Investments
University of Michigan
Speaker slate in progress · Final lineup confirmed closer to the date
The venue
Kissel Uptown
A landmark in the heart of Downtown Oakland. Sessions run through the afternoon downstairs; the reception moves to the rooftop as the light drops. Sponsor branding lives in both rooms.
October 2, 2026