Llama Lounge 19 at SAP Palo Alto

Llama Lounge 19, photo by Erick Davidson

Above: Angle 1 (we couldn’t fit everyone in frame)

Above: Angle 2 (we couldn’t fit everyone in frame)

Llama Lounge 19 (luma page) at SAP AppHaus in Palo Alto was a milestone. AI founders, investors, and corporate AI leaders came together to build, challenge, and imagine. We had a sold-out crowd, startup demos, lightning pitches, food, and networking among AI leaders. I sounded the call of the conch to open the evening, and the room erupted with energy. From demo tables with teams like CrewAI and Dimension Company to corporate leaders walking the floor, this was about community, yes the AI leaders want to be together in real life, while automating the tasks we no longer want to do.

Llama Lounge was covered in Forbes, by Sandy Carter.

Llama Lounge 19 stats:

  • 1,400+ applied to attend
  • 800+ were approved, including AI founders, venture capital investors, and corporate AI partners in decision-making roles
  • 520+ showed
  • 400-person capacity reached in 60 minutes
  • 60–100 waited 20–60 minutes in line, most got in
  • 10 founders pitched and hosted demo tables
  • Llama Lounge is now 2.5 years old

Pitch Emcee: Samuel Cummings III of Generative AI (6M Linkedin Followers)

See video of the ten startup pitches, video from Robert Scoble using his Vision Pro

Startups that pitched at Llama Lounge 19:

  • ApertureData: powering AI with semantics, context, and multimodality
  • Avelis Health (YC S25): auditing medical claims for self-insured employers
  • CrewAI: multi-agent automation platform
  • The Dimension Company: CAD agents for specific domains and tasks
  • Instock.com: smart robots for warehouse racking
  • Osly: natural language workflows for internal operations
  • Pixelesq: AI-native CMS (“cursor for marketing”)
  • PowerYou: AI guide for emotional strength
  • Thesys: frontend infrastructure for AI agents
  • Vella.ai: deep work tools powered by AI

Above Pie Chart: Llama Lounge is for AI Leaders: AI Founders/CEOs, Investors (VCs and Family Offices) and Corporate AI decision makers and AI adopters. Each person was screened. 

 

Above thank you Yaad Oren of SAP, Samuel Cummings III of Generative AI, and Stephanie Mosqueda of SAP for hosting, leading, and being an amazing part of Llama Lounge


Corporate AI Leaders, who partner with AI Startups:

  1. SAP
  2. Adobe: GenStudio Product Manager
  3. Amazon Fulfillment Robotics
  4. Amazon One Medical: Sr SWE
  5. Amazon Pay: Product Leader
  6. Amazon Prime Video & MGM: Applied Science
  7. Amazon AGI: Product
  8. AWS: GM Data Foundation (Analytics, Storage, DB)
  9. Apple: Strategy Lead
  10. Apple: Machine Learning Engineer
  11. Audi: Director
  12. Blackrock: Head of AI
  13. Block: Software Engineer
  14. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Product Leader
  15. Box
  16. Capitol One: SW Engineer AI Agent
  17. Carta: Engineering Leader
  18. Consumer Reports: Innovation Labs (AI)
  19. C3 AI: Chief Data Scientist
  20. Cisco: Sr Dir Product Management
  21. Cisco Meraki: Computer Vision Engineer
  22. Cisco Meraki: Product Manager
  23. Citi: AVP Data Solutions
  24. Cruise/GM: Technical Lead of Mapping
  25. GEICO: Product
  26. Genentech
  27. Google (multiple AI roles, Open Source Lead)
  28. Google Cloud: Product Manager
  29. Google DeepMind: Product Lead TPMs
  30. Google DeepMind: Research Scientist
  31. Google: Head of Cloud AI Activation
  32. Grayscale Ventures
  33. Hearst: Sr Data Scientist
  34. Honda Research Institute USA
  35. HPE: AI ML
  36. Hubspot: Principal MarTech AI Engineer
  37. IBM: Agents Engineer
  38. Impulsum Ventures
  39. Intel: Chief AI Architect
  40. Intuit: TPM
  41. Intuit: Head of Global Sales Data Science
  42. Intuit: Head of AI Product Management
  43. Intuit: Product
  44. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: PM
  45. LinkedIn: Product
  46. LinkedIn: Staff SWE/ML
  47. Marubeni America Corporation: Silicon Valley Exec
  48. Mazda: Innovation & New Ventures
  49. Menyala (Temasek)
  50. Meta: ML
  51. Meta: Product Manager
  52. Meta: SWE
  53. Meta: Llama GTM
  54. Meta: AI Research Scientist
  55. Microsoft: AI Engineer
  56. Nvidia: Inception Startup Program
  57. Nvidia ChipNemo: Product Lead
  58. OpenText: Lead SWE
  59. OpenAI: Sr Director, Oracle Cloud
  60. Oracle: Data Scientist
  61. Palo Alto Networks
  62. Paypal: SWE
  63. Qatar Airlines: Head of Ops & Innovation
  64. Ringcentral: AI/ML Data Engineering
  65. Rivian: SWE
  66. Samsung Research: ML
  67. Samsung Research America: VP AI Center
  68. Sandisk: Computer Scientist
  69. Sandisk: Head of Platform Development
  70. Snap: SWE
  71. SoftBank Group Telecom America Corp
  72. Snowflake: Director of AI Partnerships
  73. Stellantis
  74. SuperMicro
  75. Samsung: Conversational AI DevRel
  76. Tesla: Supply Chain Leader
  77. Tiktok: Sr Product Manager
  78. Toyota/Woven: Product Manager of Mapping/Lane Keeping
  79. UK Dept of Business and Trade
  80. Visa: Product Manager Payments
  81. Volkswagen of America: Tech Scouting AI
  82. VW: IT Lead
  83. VW: Volkswagen Innovation Center of California
  84. Walmart: Global Tech SWE
  85. Walmart: Data Science Payments
  86. Walmart: PMO
  87. Wells Fargo: SVP of Product Management AI
  88. Whirlpool Corporation: DevOps Engineer
  89. ZScaler: Director of Data + AI
  90. Zoox

VCs and Investors, backers of AI Startups:

  1. Blitzscaling Ventures
  2. 2468 Ventures
  3. 500 Global
  4. Acorn Pacific Ventures
  5. Advantary
  6. AI Fund
  7. Alchemist Accelerator
  8. Alpha Square Group
  9. Alumni Ventures
  10. Arka Venture Labs
  11. Battery Ventures
  12. Benhamou Global Ventures
  13. Berkeley Angel Network
  14. Berkeley Venture Capital
  15. Blackstone
  16. Blume Ventures
  17. Boundless Ventures
  18. Canaan
  19. CCV Capital
  20. Converge
  21. Cofounder Ventures
  22. Dell Tech Capital
  23. Denso Ventures
  24. Diversis Capital
  25. Diversity Venture Capital
  26. Dnipro VC
  27. Docomo Innovations
  28. Draper Associates
  29. DRIVE Catalyst
  30. EAI Investments
  31. Emergent Ventures
  32. Escape Investment Management
  33. FalconX Ventures
  34. G2C Ventures
  35. Galaxy Ventures
  36. Ganas Ventures
  37. Georgian
  38. Grayscale Ventures
  39. Ground Capital
  40. Hat Trick Capital
  41. Hesperian Ventures
  42. Hitachi Ventures
  43. Hustle Fund
  44. Inception Studios
  45. InMotion Ventures / Jaguar Land Rover
  46. January Capital
  47. J2
  48. Jolly Ventures
  49. KFC Ventures
  50. Lamarka
  51. Latín Leap VC
  52. LDV Ventures
  53. Llama Venture
  54. LG Technology Ventures
  55. Marubeni Power Ventures
  56. Mayfield
  57. Micron Corporate Ventures
  58. Mitsui Global Investment
  59. Mosaic Ventures Lab
  60. MS&AD Ventures Inc
  61. Mubadala Capital
  62. Next 47
  63. Natcast: NSTC Investments
  64. NGP Capital
  65. Nurture Growth Fund
  66. Obvious Ventures
  67. Omni Ventures
  68. Onsen Global
  69. Outpost Capital
  70. Pano Ventures
  71. Pegasus Angel and Accelerators
  72. Practical Venture Capital
  73. Presidio Ventures
  74. Progressive Ventures
  75. Qualcomm Ventures
  76. Race Capital
  77. Redpoint Ventures
  78. Ringcentral Investments
  79. Rocketship VC
  80. Rogue Venture Fund
  81. RPS Ventures
  82. Sageview Capital
  83. SBI Holdings
  84. SBI USA Gateway Fund
  85. Script Assets
  86. Seido Capital
  87. SenseAI Ventures
  88. Sky 9 Capital
  89. Shack15 Ventures
  90. Shucker VC
  91. Sixty Degree Capital
  92. Sky9 Capital
  93. SOSV
  94. Sprintly Partners
  95. StarWorks Entrepreneurial VC
  96. Swisscom Ventures
  97. Techstars
  98. TQ Ventures
  99. Unpopular Ventures
  100. Unruly Capital
  101. UpScaleX.AI
  102. VU Venture Partners
  103. Wild Tree Ventures
  104. Wipro Ventures
  105. Xora VCXY Ventures