Llama Lounge 24 @Google DeepMind

Hundreds of AI Founders, Investors, Corporate AI Leaders at Google

Llama Lounge 24 was hosted at Google DeepMind’s Googleplex in the heart of Silicon Valley, with Peter Danenberg and Justin Woo making it happen on the Google side. The turnout reflected where the industry is right now: roughly 60% AI founders, 20% investors, and 15% corporate AI leaders looking to partner with startups.

The line to get in stretched outside the building, and the theatre was standing room only. As always, I kicked things off by sounding the ceremonial conch shell, followed by remarks from Google, then 10 startup pitches led by emcee Rajiv Ayyangar, each with a demo table for live follow-up conversations. Demand continues to outpace our venue capacity, and we’re actively working on larger spaces for future events.

I also brought a few hundred plush lobsters to give away, and the reasoning is worth explaining. Silicon Valley has a tradition of mascots that track where the industry’s attention is: unicorns, decacorns, llamas, and now lobsters. The lobsters were a nod to two things happening in the market right now: the rise of personal agents (a nod to Open Claw) and the acquisition of Moltbook by Meta, a company I backed as an angel investor. The response was more than I expected. People took them home, put them on their desks, and have been sharing photos ever since.

Rajiv Ayyangar, Peter Danenberg, and Steven Echtman helped distribute what turned out to be a coveted item.

AI Startups to Pitch and Demo:

  1. ?AdZen: Advertising platform for LLMs and publishers

  2. ?Ambiguous: (a16z, Blitzscaling) Build AI coworkers that work like teammates

  3. ??Cara (AI Fund): Automated in home assessments for at risk populations

  4. ?DiaDia Health: AI medical reasoning platform for precision & root-cause care

  5. ?Echo: Turning chat conversations into market intelligence

  6. ?Fastshot (YC): Autonomous AI mobile app builder

  7. ?Fetch AI: Personal social AI – connect, discover, monetize agents

  8. ?Glam AI: Entry-level consumer AI content platform

  9. ?Lightberry: (YC, Blitzscaling): Makes robots emotionally intelligent: listen, speak, see

  10. ?Vidably (AI Fund): Human evidence for AI commerce

VCs and Investors, backers of AI Startups:

  1. ?Blitzscaling Ventures

  2. ?2077 Ventures

  3. ?212 VC

  4. ?3C AGI Partners

  5. ?500 Global

  6. ?7BC Venture Capital

  7. ?Acorn Pacific Ventures

  8. ?AI Fund

  9. ?Accel

  10. ?Across Ventures

  11. ?AGI House Ventures

  12. ?Alchemist Accelerator

  13. ?Alpha Square Group

  14. ?Antler

  15. ?Argonautic Ventures

  16. ?Arrington Capital

  17. ?Bay Angels

  18. ?Benhamou Global Ventures

  19. ?Berkeley Angel Network

  20. ?Bessemer Venture Partners

  21. ?Blackwood

  22. ?Bosch Ventures

  23. ?Bridge Associates

  24. ?BRI Capital Partners

  25. ?Brookfield

  26. ?Bullpen Capital

  27. ?Caffeinated Capital

  28. ?CDIB Capital

  29. ?CCV Capital

  30. ?Cisco

  31. ?Converge VC

  32. ?Cota Capital

  33. ?Cyber Fund

  34. ?DEEPCORE Inc

  35. ?Denso

  36. ?DG Daiwa Ventures

  37. ?Diversity VC

  38. ?Dnipro VC

  39. ?EnvisionX

  40. ?FalconX

  41. ?Fika Ventures

  42. ?Financial Freedom Fellows

  43. ?Fortino Ventures

  44. ?Fusion Fund

  45. ?G2C Ventures

  46. ?Galaxy Ventures

  47. ?GenLab

  48. ?Genesia Ventures

  49. ?Go Global World

  50. ?Google Ventures

  51. ?Grayscale Ventures

  52. ?Han River Partners

  53. ?Hat Trick Capital

  54. ?HeavyBit

  55. ?Heliad

  56. ?Hui Capital

  57. ?Hyundai motor company

  58. ?Icon Ventures

  59. ?ID4 Ventures

  60. ?J Ventures

  61. ?Jolly VC

  62. ?KASIKORN

  63. ?KBTG CVC

  64. ?Llama Ventures

  65. ?LvlUp Ventures

  66. ?Luminar Ventures

  67. ?Matrix Partners

  68. ?Mavka Ventures

  69. ?Maxitech

  70. ?MPCi

  71. ?Mercurius Media Capital

  72. ?Mosaic Venture Lab

  73. ?Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Ventures

  74. ?MS&AD Ventures

  75. ?Nemway Ventures

  76. ?Neo Ventures

  77. ?Neurone

  78. ?NextStar Venture Partners

  79. ?Next Gen Partners

  80. ?NTT Docomo Ventures

  81. ?Omni Ventures

  82. ?Pachamama Ventures

  83. ?PG&E

  84. ?Plug and Play

  85. ?PodiumVC

  86. ?Presidio Ventures

  87. ?Prosperity 7 Ventures

  88. ?RA Capital

  89. ?Race capital

  90. ?Rainfall Ventures

  91. ?Region4

  92. ?Relentless

  93. ?Resilient Earth Capital

  94. ?Ring Central Ventures

  95. ?S28 Capital

  96. ?Samsung NEXT Ventures

  97. ?Sancus Ventures

  98. ?Scale Asia Ventures

  99. ?Selcouth Capital

  100. ?Shack15 Ventures

  101. ?Shorooq

  102. ?shuckerVC

  103. ?SK Telecom CVC

  104. ?Sony Ventures

  105. ?Solaris Venture Partners

  106. ?Sophia Business Angels (SBA)

  107. ?Sorenson Capital

  108. ?SparkLabs

  109. ?StartX

  110. ?Sunstone

  111. ?Quadri Ventures

  112. ?Temasek

  113. ?Tencent Investments

  114. ?Treeo VC

  115. ?TVGP

  116. ?UpScaleX

  117. ?Wiharper

  118. ?Xora

  119. ?Yzi labs

  120. ?Z Ventures

  121. ?ZVC Ventures