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Meet the New Santa Barbara Venture Fund Eyeing Software Startups
Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
A new venture fund based up the 101 isn’t letting the current market slowdown curb its appetite for new software startups.
Santa Barbara Venture Partners has officially closed its first, $11 million investment fund, the company told dot.LA, with the primary goal of backing software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies based predominantly in Southern California.
The Santa Barbara-based firm was founded in 2020 by former tech entrepreneur Dan Engel, who said that he looks to invest in companies that can weather the storms of tumultuous capital markets. SBVP claims a strict set of criteria for its portfolio companies; Engel said it won’t invest unless a startup can prove it’s already conquered product-market fit and is generating at least $3 million in annual revenue, with an emphasis on companies with subscription-based revenue models and annual growth rates of at least 75%.
“We invest at a stage when product-market fit has already been figured out,” Engel told dot.LA. “We don't want to take that risk, because too many times it doesn't end up getting figured out, and an investor ends up with a goose-egg zero.”
The firm plans to invest in startups that are anywhere from the seed stage up to their Series D round, and which have the potential to deliver a 3x-to-6x return in at least a seven-year time span, Engel added.
“We try to invest in businesses that are really hard to screw up,” Engel noted, half-jokingly.
So far, SBVP has backed nine companies out of its debut fund with an average check size of about $850,000, according to Engel. The fund recently saw its first exit via San Diego-based nonprofit fundraising platform Classy, which raised $118 million in a Series D round last year before being acquired by GoFundMe this January.
While he’s cautious about backing companies that don’t have a clear track record of growth, Engel did say he’s optimistic about the current state of the tech startup environment despite increasingly sluggish market conditions. He noted particular optimism about SBVP’s chosen software market.
“Every time SaaS is down, it comes roaring back up,” Engel asserted. “It's got real advantages to it as an investment—such as having the ability to weather storms that others can’t, [like] much more capital-intensive businesses that don't have predictable recurring revenue.”
Still, there is at least one company in the SBVP portfolio that’s been directly affected by stagnating IPO markets—with Classy originally planning to go public before opting to shelve its Nasdaq ambitions
“The M&A market I don't think is too different at the moment; maybe multiples are down a little bit. The IPO market is certainly on hold at the moment, and that affects us too,” said Engel, who worked in customer acquisition and marketing for the likes of Google before co-founding Santa Barbara-based fintech software startup FastSpring. He also served as FastSpring’s CEO prior to its 2013 acquisition by L.A.-based investment firm Pylon Capital.
Other recent SBVP investments include Hydrosat, a satellite thermal imaging company that graduated from Techstars’ aerospace accelerator in Los Angeles; and Berkeley-based Voltaiq, which makes software to analyze the efficiency of electric vehicle batteries. The remaining investments from the new fund include Bark Technologies, Specright, Nice Healthcare, Jackpocket, Rad AI and Curri. Engel said over 70% of the fund is already invested, including via sidecar deals.
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Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
LA Tech Week 2026: Monday’s Event Lineup
03:35 PM | October 08, 2026
🔦 Spotlight
LA Tech Week 2026 kicks off Monday, October 12, with a packed opening day of founder gatherings, investor conversations, workshops, demonstrations and evening events across the city. To make planning easier, we have organized Monday’s lineup by neighborhood, helping you spend less time navigating LA traffic and more time making the most of Day 1.
ARTS DISTRICT
10:00 AM
- Hands-on workshop: take your product into the AI chat: See Details Here
MYOP
3:00 PM
- Hands-on workshop: build an MCP app: See Details Here
MYOP
4:00 PM
- Bots and Brews - Physical AI Meetup: See Details Here
RiseLink
5:30 PM
- Reliable Agents Need Evals: A Scale AI Workshop : See Details Here
Scale AI
BEVERLY HILLS
10:00 AM
- Morning Breathwork Retreat for Women in Tech: See Details Here
Breathwork with Carly
10:00 AM
- Morning Matcha :: FashionTech x RetailTech x Circular Economies: See Details Here
Looks For Lease Technology inc.
12:00 PM
- The Founders Table Fueled by Delta: See Details Here
mavn
1:45 PM
- Why Investors Say No + In The Ring with an Investor: See Details Here
GoPresent
5:30 PM
- Tech Talent After Hours: See Details Here
Reku, Devlin Talent, Joiful Talent Solutions
6:00 PM
- T4BH HACKATHON: See Details Here
T4BH
7:00 PM
- HIGHSCALE Founders Dinner in Beverly Hills: See Details Here
HIGHSCALE
BRENTWOOD
11:00 AM
- GTM 101: Content for Growth: See Details Here
Founder-Led Media
6:00 PM
- LA Female Founders & Funders Happy Hour: See Details Here
Rho, Launch Coaching Lab
CARSON
6:00 AM
- Ride the Olympic Oval: See Details Here
Assiduity AI + Capital Risk Management
CULVER CITY
11:30 AM
- OpenArt AI Lunch & Learn: Nerding Out on Film & TV: See Details Here
OpenArt AI
1:00 PM
- Multi-Media AI Pipeline Build Networking: See Details Here
Celestine Pictures, Inc.
3:00 PM
- touch grass, get paid: how creators turn taste into an irl business: See Details Here
Butter
- Vibe Code Mama Presents: AI Creator Salon with Michelle Phan: See Details Here
Vibe Code Mama
5:00 PM
- CRYPTOMONDAYS CULVER CITY MEETUP: See Details Here
Pitch4Capital.com
6:30 PM
- Funding Founders Dinner: See Details Here
DealMaker, JP Morgan
DOWNTOWN
9:30 AM
- Women backing Women: See Details Here
Sisters female founders initiative
Mon, Oct 12 · 12:15pm — Sun, Oct 18 · 4:30pm
- Built at 24: Blueprint for Esports, Creators & Community: See Details Here
7Ven
4:00 PM
- Creative Futures: How Technology Is Reshaping Art & Culture: See Details Here
Gallery 945 - The New Beauty Counter: Beauty & Wellness Edition: See Details Here
Triple Eight Creative
6:00 PM
- The Asian Edge: AI, Operators & Capital: See Details Here
ACE Next Gen
7:00 PM
- AI-matched dinners with Rauk AI [LA]: See Details Here
RAUK AI - KICK-OFF DTLA TECH WEEK 26: See Details Here
BASE + WEB APPS AGENTS
8:00 PM
- CAD + AI LA: See Details Here
Raven CAD
EL SEGUNDO
9:00 AM
- Private Fund CFO Breakfast — The AI-Enabled Fund: Reporting, Compliance & Tax Strategy (1 CPE): See Details Here
Suntera Fund Services, KPMG
12:00 PM
- LA Times Studios Business, TECH DAY Presented by CAMBIUM: See Details Here
LA Times Studios, CAMBIUM
3:00 PM
- Everyone says "use AI." Almost no one makes it real: See Details Here
Eboost Consulting
7:00 PM
- In The Arena: See Details Here
Transcend Mechanics, Vuecason
MARINA DEL RAY
6:00 PM
- AV design leaves Visio: a browser tool your studio owns: See Details Here
Workflow Builder
PLAYA DEL REY
8:00 AM
- UNSCRIPTED: Ideas in Motion A Beach Walk for #LATechWeek: See Details Here
Momentum Impact, Women Defining AI
6:00 PM
- Money Memories Live: The Founder Stories Behind Billion-Dollar Decisions: See Details Here
Armada
PLAYA VISTA
8:45 AM
- LA Tech Week Kickoff: From Zero to Scale: See Details Here
JP Morgan, H5efounders
12:00 PM
- Wavemaker 360 Climb and Connect: Health-Tech at New Heights: See Details Here
Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health
5:30 PM
- Hardware Meets Intelligence: AI for Space and Defense: See Details Here
Starburst Aerospace, Outpost Space
OTHER
Mon, Oct 12 · 6:00am — Sun, Oct 18 · 10:00am
- Don't Be a Frango Lifting Club - Daily 6-9am: See Details Here
Oxus Finance
Mon, Oct 12 · 9:00am — Sun, Oct 18 · 10:00pm
- Matched by Verci: See Details Here
Verci
Mon, Oct 12 · 10:00am — Sun, Oct 18 · 6:30pm
- Find out what your clothes say about you as a Founder: See Details Here
The Signal Read
11:00 AM
- Investors at the Cutting Edge - GP/LP Luncheon (Deep Tech): See Details Here
Actuate Ventures
SANTA MONICA
6:30 AM
- Sunrise Storytelling: See Details Here
Need To Film Ltd
7:30 AM
- Wake up Hardware! Network & Fun Run Sponsored by Nominal & D. E. Shaw Ventures: See Details Here
Nominal, D.E. Shaw Ventures
8:30 AM
- TokenTechWalk Sponsored by Vonage and Lovable: See Details Here
TechWalk
9:30 AM
- GPs + LPs Breakfast: See Details Here
Reveille VC, Mercury, San Manuel Nation
2:00 PM
- AI Startup Disruption in Media & Entertainment: See Details Here
Mucker Capital
- AI Meets the Real World: Founder & Investor Mixer: See Details Here
Sunstone Management, Inc, Circuit Launch
3:00 PM
- AI for Finance Summit 2026 LA: See Details Here
LinqAlpha
- 🇺🇸 Family Offices Investors Summit 🥂🕯Michelin‑Dinner📍Los Angeles📍Oct 12-18: See Details Here
Family Offices Investors Summit
4:00 PM
- AI Orchestration Agents and the Human Bottleneck: See Details Here
Mucker Capital
- The Hidden Cost of Legacy Software: When to Modernise, Migrate or Leave it Alone: See Details Here
Modstar
- Founder & Investor Pickleball Party: See Details Here
Entre - The Precision Health Opportunity: See Details Here
GCWC Capital, Trinet
- Founder Fest LA - #LATechWeek Opening Party: See Details Here
Kamp
5:00 PM
- Let's talk Fintech & Payments: See Details Here
J.P. Morgan
- The Hybrid Studio: What Survives When AI Meets Oscar-Grade Craft: See Details Here
House of 434
6:00 PM
- Scaling Innovation in Critical Industries: An ACA × KPMG Founder Dinner: See Details Here
Arizona Commerce Authority, KPMG
- Founders & Investors Mixer: See Details Here
Technology Founders of America
- The LA Grind: Beachfront Founder & VC Dinner: See Details Here
The LA Grind
- The Official a16z Tech Week Kickoff by HSBC and Fenwick: See Details Here
HSBC, a16z Speedrun, Fenwick
7:00 PM
- Stablecoin Dinner: See Details Here
Crypto Nomads
- TechSpace Opening Dinner: See Details Here
TechSpace, JP Morgan
- The agent-run brand: a DTC founders dinner: See Details Here
Deliberate
- Product Leader Dinner: See Details Here
Define
8:00 PM
- Oct 12- Pitch Slap Tech Comedy: See Details Here
Pitch Slap Comedy, So I'm The Crazy One Movie
SOUTH LA
6:30 PM
- Black LA Tech Week Mixer: See Details Here
Black L.A. Tech Week (Community Collective)
USC
1:00 PM
- GENIUS IS NOT GENERATED: See Details Here
hyakutake
12:00 PM
- Founders & Investors Pitch Jam: See Details Here
EchoHer
6:00 PM
- Swift Angels: iOS & Swift developer meetup: See Details Here
iOSC
VENICE
7:30 AM
- Best Morning Ever: See Details Here
Meredith Baker / Powerful Stuff
8:00 AM
- Founder Flow: Sunrise Yoga presented by Cake Equity: See Details Here
Cake Equity
9:00 AM
- Founders' Coffee: See Details Here
Y·US Ventures, Bridgit
- Coworking @ Day One: See Details Here
Day One Partners
10:00 AM
- Founders&Funders Coffee Hour: See Details Here
A26 Ventures
4:00 PM
- Borderless: See Details Here
DVRGNT Ventures, Musa Capital, The Wealth Salons - The Penmar Social — Tinder x Wonder Ventures: Top Founders & Operators: See Details Here
World Ventures, Tinder
5:00 PM
- German Tech Meets LA: AI, Innovation & Oktoberfest: See Details Here
NRW.Global Business, AI LA
5:30 PM
- CFO from the Future Roundtable + Cocktail Tasting: See Details Here
Tabs
6:00 PM
- Product & Design Happy Hour - Pma.la: See Details Here
Product Managers Association of Los Angeles (PMA LA)
7:00 PM
- Women in STEM Comedy: See Details Here
Women in STEM Comedy
7:30 PM
- LOTERÍA CASINO NIGHT: See Details Here
Pesito, OnlyExit.ai
VIRTUAL
Mon, Oct 12 · 12:00am — Sun, Oct 18 · 11:45pm
- ur +1 is a stranger: See Details Here
NEXA
10:30 AM
- International Founders: Biotech/Deep Tech Pitch Clinic: See Details Here
Jennifer Pawlitschek Consulting
12:30 PM
- International Founders: The AI & SaaS Pitch Clinic: See Details Here
Jennifer Pawlitschek Consulting
WESTWOOD
7:30 PM
- Climate Tech Unsolved: Powering the AI Boom Cleanly: See Details Here
Society of Clean Energy and Technology at UCLA
WEST HOLLYWOOD
7:00 AM
- Healing Space During Tech: WiFi for Your Soul: See Details Here
SoulByte
9:00 AM
- Sweat Equity: Founder + Investor HIIT Workout: See Details Here
Build Momentum
12:00 PM
- Corporate Venture Lab: Sushi, Sake & New Ventures: See Details Here
Build Momentum
5:00 PM
- The Leap Private Dinner: From Executive to Founder: *Invite Only*
Build Momentum
6:30 PM
- Building LA’s Next Venture Hub: See Details Here
Build Momentum
Each session provides unique opportunities to gain insights, network, and explore various fields of tech innovation. For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.
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LA Tech Week 2026: Saturday’s Event Lineup
04:43 PM | October 08, 2026
🔦 Spotlight
LA Tech Week 2026 heads into the weekend Saturday with more opportunities to learn, meet fellow builders and explore what is being created across the region. Browse the day’s events by neighborhood below and find the gatherings worth leaving the house for.
ARTS DISTRICT
5:30 PM
- [WARDROBE DEBUG]: See Details Here
Soullink AI
CULVER CITY
10:00 AM
- Live Models TBD: See Details Here
Visko Platform, Reactor
1:00 PM
- Wafer, Print, & the Entertainment Business: See Details Here
Tallaris Partners
4:00 PM
- Build a voice agent in 3 minutes: See Details Here
Guava
- Tech Week Close Out Party: See Details Here
CarClub
DOWNTOWN
11:00 AM
- TradingDayEvent: See Details Here
silwal.io
2:00 PM
- [DFA Designathon]: See Details Here
Design For America + USC
- South Asians in Space, Physical AI: See Details Here
american south asian network
5:00 PM
- Speak Easy: Pitch Lab Happy Hour: See Details Here
Speech & Mind
7:00 PM
- Tea Tech and Tequila: See Details Here
SFWRUNWAY
LONG BEACH
10:00 AM
- Cars & Coffee: See Details Here
Grid, Vacant.com
12:00 PM
- Tech Beach Party @ Long Beach: See Details Here
Tech by the Beach
LOS FELIZ
8:30 AM
- Griffith Observatory Hike with Longevity Cities & Don't Die LA: See Details Here
Longevity Cities
MARINA DEL RAY
9:30 AM
- The Brazen Capital Walk: Connecting Women, Capital & Opportunity: See Details Here
BrazenEra
6:00 PM
- Build an AI workflow editor, natively in Angular: See Details Here
Workflow Builder
SANTA MONICA
7:00 AM
- Founders Running Club Run in Santa Monica: See Details Here
Founders Running Club, MongoDb
9:00 AM
- MOLTEN - Spatial hackathon (ElevenLabs, AssemblyAI, Rokoko, Datafeel...): See Details Here
Field Lab
2:00 PM
- Founder/Investor Fight Club: See Details Here
Santa Monica Striking
- Matcha & Walk with Longevity L.A.: See Details Here
Longevity Cities
3:30 PM
- The Afterparty for Your Nervous System: See Details Here
Infinity Angels 777
6:00 PM
- The Era of Agentic Networking: See Details Here
Purpose:Labs
7:00 PM
- Hackathon: See Details Here
Builderbase, AI Collective
USC
9:00 AM
- ACM@USC TrojanHacks: See Details Here
ACM@USC
10:00 AM
- 0 to Shipped: See Details Here
LavaLab
10:30 AM
- [CreatorThon]: See Details Here
Intuition Intelligence, Inc.
VENICE
8:00 AM
- Open Air Health Tech: See Details Here
Open Air Health Tech, Bowshock, Govitamins App
10:00 AM
- Be You Louder: Find, Build, Tell Your Story: See Details Here
Be You Louder
10:30 AM
- touch ./SAND - The Voice Agent OUTDOOR Hackathon: See Details Here
Openbase
11:00 AM
- Community Build: Tech 4 Good Hackathon: See Details Here
The Sameritan Project
12:00 PM
- Lovable Hackathon Competition: See Details Here
Lucky Day Labs
6:00 PM
- Bots, Bytes & Bubbles Benefit: See Details Here
Distinguished Minds Institute dba thinqueBytes®
VIRTUAL
9:00 AM
- Ask a VP of Sales: Live GTM Office Hours for Early-Stage B2B Founders: See Details Here
Kat Rucker Consulting Group
11:00 AM
- Sip & Ship: The Un-Hackathon: See Details Here
Your Next Win
WEST HOLLYWOOD
11:00 AM
- The 10x Engineer Showed Up. The 10x Organization Didn't.: See Details Here
Workflow Builder, Tentaro
3:00 PM
- AI, FILM & THE NEW ECONOMICS of CREATIVITY: See Details Here
DIMSUMX
WESTSIDE
11:00 AM
- AI After 5: Pilates & AI: See Details Here
AI After 5
- 🍵 Global Dream Café: See Details Here
Global Dream Team Media LLC
2:00 PM
- Graphic Design & Digital Printing Meetup: See Details Here
Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More of West LA
7:00 PM
- Tech Industry Speed Networking West LA: See Details Here
Los Angeles Fun Events
Each session provides unique opportunities to gain insights, network, and explore various fields of tech innovation. For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.
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