LDV Capital's Annual General Meeting 2024: The Visual Tech & AI Experts Building The Future
Since 2012, we at LDV Capital have been the only venture fund with the thesis of investing in people building businesses powered by visual technology and artificial intelligence (AI). We define visual technology as any technology that captures, analyzes, filters, displays, or distributes visual data across the light and electromagnetic spectrums.
Over the years, we have hosted 10 annual LDV Vision Summits and numerous Vision events, Happy Hours and Community Dinners all with the goal of bringing the world’s brightest entrepreneurs, investors and technologists to discuss cutting-edge technologies and help each other succeed.
Our Annual General Meetings (AGM) are exclusive, invite-only events for our LPs, portfolio companies, LDV experts and special guests. We are thrilled to share a glimpse of our most recent AGM in New York City, giving you a unique opportunity to see what usually happens behind closed doors.
The day started with the keynote speech from LDV Capital’s Founder and General Partner Evan Nisselson.
In early 2024, we announced that LDV Capital raised our fourth fund to continue investing in people building businesses powered by visual technologies and AI.
We then welcomed Ash Cleary, Associate at LDV Capital, to share his insights on visual tech & the circular economy/sustainability opportunities.
Check out his article on visual tech advancing the discovery & development of new materials.
Dr. Deborah Estrin, a Computer Science Professor and Associate Dean for Impact at Cornell Tech, spoke about how visual tech and AI can empower future home care.
Dr. Estrin is one of 120+ brilliant women spearheading advances in visual tech & artificial intelligence.
David Rabuka, Co-Founder, CEO and President at Acrigen Biosciences and LDV Expert, spoke about life science/biotech investment trends & opportunities. His expertise is concentrated on translating new technologies into clinical therapies. David previously co-founded Redwood Biosciences with Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi, which was acquired by Catalent Pharma Solutions in 2014.
Matt Uyttendaele, Director of Meta’s FAIR Chemistry Team and LDV Expert, shared insights on opportunities leveraging visual tech & AI for materials discovery (some of them are covered in this article).
Rob Spectre, also known as the Brooklyn Hacker, Founder and CEO of Childsafe.ai and LDV Expert, spoke about the challenges tech companies face in finding an audience in 2024.
At our 4th Annual LDV Vision Summit in 2017, Rob shared wins and failures from a career as a leader building developer go-to-market strategies for Twilio and Boxee.
“The future of life sciences & biotech married with visualization technologies holds the promise of unlocking promising therapies and medical advancements at a scale and with a depth never before imagined, illuminating the path to breakthroughs that will revolutionize medicine and our understanding of human biology.” - David Rabuka
Check out our article on visual tech advancing accelerations in life sciences and biotech.
Portfolio Companies
If you're developing the world's best AI avatars, it makes sense to have them present while you're attending an off-site with the entire Synthesia team.
Latest news: the team launched Expressive AI Avatars. They debuted the AI Avatar of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at Computex 2024.
Sebastian Acevedo, Co-Founder and CEO of Memorable, the company that delivers AI to predict the impact of ad creative.
Latest news: the team launched a feature to pretest Animatics—low fidelity versions of a video to optimize before shooting.
Douglas Shapiro, Chief of Staff at Clarifai, the leading full stack AI platform to understand, generate and search for images, video, text and audio.
Latest news: Clarifai added a new coding app template, symmetric and asymmetric text search capabilities and new LLMs – check out all the details in this newsletter.
Jeremiah Robison, Founder & CEO of CIONIC, the company delivering bionic clothing for mobility impairment.
Latest news: the Cionic Neural Sleeve earned gold in wearable and implantable medical devices at the Edison Awards.
Ahmad Gaber, COO at Norbert Health, the company behind the first all-in-one ambient AI health hub.
Latest news: the team partnered with Software République to provide better access to healthcare and prevention through a mobile van that brings essential services closer to the population.
Chen Zhang, Co-Founder & CEO of Aquifer Motion, an AI-powered storytelling platform for brands in film, TV and entertainment.
Latest news: the team released its AI-assisted body animation feature.
Esther Dyson, an investor, commentator, philanthropist and full-time founder of Wellville – a ten-year nonprofit project (ending in 2024) to show the long-term value of investing in health, resilience and equity for all. Aside from Wellville, her primary activity is investing in and nurturing start-ups, with a focus on health, human capital, logistics and space exploration (by both humans and machines). She was an early investor in 23andMe, Avanlee Care, Evernote, Flickr, Mashery, Medstory, Meetup, Omada Health, Square, Ezra (LDV portfolio company) and others. Esther wrote the bestselling, widely translated book, “Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age”
Check out the fireside chat between Esther and Evan from our 10th Annual LDV Vision Summit.
Portfolio Companies
Jonathan Denby, Founder & CEO of ROADIO, the AI-powered safety platform for small vehicles. Their system features two fisheye cameras, a powerful processor and advanced AI for collision warnings.
Latest news: the company announced 4 major partnerships with leading ebike and moped brands across several countries.
Dareen Salama, Co-Founder & CEO of Gryps, the RPA platform delivering automation to the construction industry.
Latest news: Gryps has doubled in size with 16 full-time employees and expanding to Massachusetts with 2 pilots.
Tony Beltramelli, Co-Founder & CEO of Uizard, a company delivering AI-powered tools to transform the way people design and build software.
Latest news: the team launched Autodesigner 1.5, the world's first AI UI generator.
Karin Andrea Stephan, Co-Founder & COO of Earkick, an AI-powered mental health platform with a multi-modal LLM companion that measures, tracks, communicates and helps improve mental health in real-time.
Latest news: the company's product market fit score surpassed 70%.
Ziv Attar, Co-Founder & CEO of Glass Imaging, the company delivering next-generation smartphone image quality with GLASS AI.
Latest news: Glass Imaging raised a $9.3M extended seed funding round led by GV.
Hani Eskandari, CEO of Sonus Microsystems, the company delivering the next-gen ultrasound for remote diagnostic imaging.
Latest news: the team announced their $2.1M pre-seed round led by us at LDV Capital.
Emi Gal, Founder & CEO of Ezra, the pioneer in leveraging AI across all three key components of the cancer screening process: imaging, analysis, and reporting.
Latest news: the company raised $21 million and partnered with Rayus Radiology to roll out its product across all 150 of its freestanding imaging centers.
Avi Muchnick, Founder & CEO of Burner Page, the AI-driven conversion rate enhancer known as AB3.ai.
Latest news: their customers report incredible results: conversions were boosted by up to 200%.
Let us know if you are either thinking of building or have already started building a startup leveraging visual technologies and AI.
Portfolio Companies
Peter Stern, CEO of Voyant Photonics, the world’s first silicon-photonics chip-scale FMCW LiDAR system.
Latest news: the team showcased more scenes for both Blue and Guide, their 200-meter sensor designed for automotive ADAS requirements.
Yan Liu, Co-Founder and CEO of TVision Insights, the leader in eyes on screen attention measurement.
Latest news: the team partnered with the ad tech firm Teads to improve its video advertising tools.
Alexandra Boussommier, Founder & CEO of ImVitro, the AI-powered platform that brings embryo evaluation to the next level and positively impacts clinics’ productivity.
Latest news: ImVitro published peer-reviewed articles in Human Reproduction and Reproductive BioMedicine Online.
Carter Maslan, Founder & CEO of Camio, the real-time video search and alerting platform that works with all cameras.
Latest news: security teams claim a 50x increase in efficiency when responding instantly via Camio's state-of-the-art AI.
Sumanta Talukdar, Founder & CEO of Gardin, a cloud-based crop intelligence system leveraging AI and optical sensors.
Latest news: the team partnered with Bayer Crop Science to optimize water management strategies while maintaining crop productivity.
Ryan Benmalek, Co-Founder & CEO of Daimon Labs, building AI companions that learn to provide a lifetime connection.
Latest news: sign up for their waitlist.
Dareen Salama and Amir Tasbihi, Co-Founders of Gryps, speaking with LDV experts Rob Spectre and Samson Timoner, a Computer Vision Team Lead at Wicket. Gryps is modernizing the construction industry with robotic process automation, computer vision & AI.
"Attending LDV Capital's AGM was highly rewarding, offering substantial networking opportunities that significantly benefit us and the other portfolio companies,” said Ziv Attar, Co-Founder and CEO at Glass Imaging. Check out our article, “Killing DSLR Cameras – The Final Nail in the Coffin”.
“Everyone at the LDV AGM is always willing to help, I met inspiring founders sharing their journey and growth stories, founders who shared their learnings that saved me days of research and potentially expensive mistakes. I made genuine connections with people who are generous with their time, contacts and advice to propel our business forward. This is a unique community that I am grateful to be a part of,” said Dareen Salama, Co-Founder and CEO at Gryps.
Carol DerSarkissian, MD, is the Medical Director at Ezra Health. She is a board-certified emergency physician with over 20 years of experience in providing medical care. Carol has been a long-time member of our LDV Community, and we are thrilled that she has joined one of our portfolio companies to help them succeed.
“It is inspiring to be in a room full of innovators that will really change healthcare. When I learned about Sonus Microsystems, I instantly knew their product is going to transform the way we deliver cardiac care. As a doctor that is very exciting,” said Carol about our AGM this year.
“LDV Capital's focus on deep tech is a key catalyst for that sector's growth in New York City. At their dinners they bring together impressive entrepreneurs and scientists, as well as investors working to hopefully improve our world, help each other succeed and make NYC a center for deep tech,” said Maria Gotsch, CEO of Partnership Fund for NYC.
"I always enjoy attending and participating in the Annual General Meeting at LDV. It’s a fantastic opportunity to network with visionary founders and dynamic management teams. I appreciated being able to have fantastic conversations, hearing insights into numerous innovative projects, business strategies, and exciting company building," said David Rabuka, Co-Founder, CEO and President at Acrigen Biosciences and LDV Expert.
"Another fabulous LDV event where you know that Evan has curated entrepreneurs/investors who not only are solving the most interesting problems but also are drawn to this special community of humans who genuinely want to help each other. And over the years it keeps getting better," said Emily Becher, Co-Founder of WestEnd Fintech.
“Attending LDV Capital's AGM has been an unparalleled networking opportunity with like-minded colleagues and industry leaders in visual tech. It was truly inspiring to witness entrepreneurs, investors, and domain experts going the extra mile to open doors for each other. The LDV team did an outstanding job organizing the event, ensuring a dynamic, productive, and efficient schedule throughout the day,” said Dr. Hani Eskandari, CEO at Sonus Microsystems. Check out his keynote speech from our 10th Annual LDV Vision Summit, he spoke about revolutionizing healthcare diagnosis with high-performance, customizable and flexible ultrasound.
“What an intense and deeply inspiring meeting, thanks LDV Capital for this unique opportunity to present Earkick and meet amazing founders, backers and experts. Despite their busy schedules, several invitees have told me they make time for the LDV Annual General Meeting because it is one of the highlights of the year. Looking forward to the next one, Evan Nisselson, Kat Kolambet-Lopez, and the entire LDV team,” said Karin Andrea Stephan, Co-Founder & COO of Earkick. Check out our interview with Karin Andrea in the Women Leading Visual Tech series. We discussed AI's ability to detect and identify changes in our wellbeing.
LDV VIP Dinner
To conclude the day, we gathered for a VIP dinner and invited a few special guests and members of our LDV Community to join us.
(L-R) David Rabuka and Vince Pizzica, a C-suite executive and board advisor with 30 years of versatile senior leadership experience spanning corporate development, operations, and technology. Vince previously worked for Siemens Australia, Alcatel-Lucent, Technicolor and more.
(L-R) Dave Zohrob, Product Director at Spotify, and Evan. Dave co-founded Chartable and sold it to Spotify.
(L-R) LDV’s Suzanne Weldon, Raveena Ramnauth, Operations Manager at LDV Capital, and Oktawia, an intern who helped us organize this fantastic event.
(L-R) William O'Farrell, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, speaking with Kat Kolambet-Lopez, Director of Content & Marketing at LDV Capital.
(L-R) Chen and Paul Nemirovsky, Co-Founder & CEO at dMetrics, the platform that enables analysts and other SMEs across Fortune 500 and the public sector to create their own, transparent and accurate AIs.
(L-R) Ryan Benmalek, Co-Founder and CEO at Daimon Labs, speaking with Rahul Powar, Founder & CEO at Red Sift, and Rob. Previously, Rahul served as VP/Head of Advanced Products at Thomson Reuters Corporation which he joined when his startup Apsmart was acquired. Before that, Rahul was part of the founding team and principal technical architect for Shazam Entertainment.
Carlos Gerardo, Co-Founder and Director of R&D at Sonus Microsystems, is demonstrating the next generation of ultrasound technology, delivering remote diagnostic imaging, without the need to go to a clinic or hospital. These transducers are empowered by the innovative polyCMUT technology (stands for polymer-based Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers).
(L-R) Vivek Sharma, CEO & Founder of Moveable Ink, Maria Gotsch, CEO of Partnership Fund for NYC, Eric Berry, an entrepreneur-turned-life sciences & healthcare investor, and Trace Cohen, Angel at New York Venture Partners and co-investor with us in Uizard.
(L-R) Dareen Salama, C0-Founder and CEO at Gryps, speaking with Evan and Amir.
(L-R) Chen, Mark and Matt Ruby, a comedian, writer & filmmaker.
(L-R) Tejpaul Bhatia, CRO at Axiom Space, speaking with William O'Farrell.
(L-R) Jim Albrecht, a consultant on generative AI product development and content rights, speaking with Adam Devine, Co-Founder and CRO at Foresight, and Evan.
(L-R) Donald Buckley, Co-Head at Lullaboo Studios/Snorble, David L. Concannon, Partner at Goodwin, and Frank Rimalovski, Executive Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute and Managing Director of NYU Innovation Venture Fund.
"Love these LDV Capital community events. Evan and the LDV team do a great job curating great people, who are always eager to help and collaborate," said Frank Rimalovski.
(L-R) Eric Berry, Josh Stern and Jeff Stewart.
David Berkowitz, an Executive in Residence at Progress Partners and the Founder of the Serial Marketer consultancy firm.
Mark Kalow, Director at Spiked (NuVessl Frozen Desserts Inc.) and Director at OWL Integrations.
(L-R) Andres Glusman, Co-Founder and CEO at DoWhatWorks, former Product/Growth leader at Meetup, and lean startup pioneer, and Emily Becher, Co-Founder of WestEnd Fintech.
(L-R) Tsafrir Oranski, Vice President Of Business Development at Parametrix Insurance, speaking with Medha Vedaprakash, an angel investor, and Jim.
Andrew Cohen, SVP and Head of Product Development at AT&T. Previously, he led product IoT product and engineering group at Samsung, was Director and General Manager of Kindle Direct Publishing at Amazon, SVP/GM at bit.ly, and Director of Search & Navigation at AOL.
(L-R) Dave, Vince and Rebecca Paoletti, Co-Founder and CEO at CakeWorks. She is an LDV Capital expert. Rebecca previously worked at Yahoo, Time Warner Cable, Maven Networks and with Evan in the 1990s at Excite@Home.
(L-R) Mitchell Goss, CEO of Zero-In, speaking with Jim. Jim has worked as an executive at Google, Samsung, and with Evan at Excite@Home in the 1990s.
(L-R) Douglas speaking with Vicky Shum.
Our Annual General Meeting was an absolute delight, filled with insightful discussions and meaningful connections. We – Evan, Ash, Kat, Raveena, Suzanne, Don, Oktawia and Max – extend a huge thank you to everyone who attended and made the event a success. We are deeply honored that brilliant people from our LDV Community fly in from around the world to discuss the latest technologies and cutting-edge trends, inspire, and, most importantly, help each other succeed. Brilliant photos by ©Robert Wright.