TechCrunch's invite-only StrictlyVC event series is returning to New York City on September 10 at Ideal Glass Studios in the West Village, marking its first NYC edition since 2024. General admission tickets are available for $180, a relatively modest price point for an event that has previously drawn speakers like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Sequoia Capital's Alfred Lin.
The timing is deliberate. New York's startup ecosystem is having a moment, and the event organizers want to capture that energy in a room full of founders, investors, and dealmakers.
NYC Startups Are Raising Capital at a Blistering Pace
The numbers tell a clear story. In the first half of 2026, over 240 New York City startups collectively raised **1.06 billion during the same period in 2025. The average seed round has grown too, climbing from 6.64 million.
Zoom out and the picture gets even more striking. Total startup funding across all stages in NYC hit roughly **19.1 billion across the entirety of 2025. They are on pace to double last year's total.
That capital is not concentrated in one hot sector. It is flowing into AI, healthcare, climate tech, fintech, robotics, and consumer companies. The breadth matters. A city with diverse startup activity is less vulnerable to a single sector downturn.
Who Is Speaking and What They Will Discuss
The programming opens with Craig Shapiro, founder of Collaborative Fund, joining TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos for a session titled "The Business of Belonging." The topic is timely. Investors have spent years chasing network effects and user growth. Now many are asking a different question: can a company build a community so strong that it becomes a durable competitive advantage? Shapiro and Loizos will explore where technology, fandom, and real-world connection overlap.
Later, Tristan Walker takes the stage. Walker built Bevel into one of the most talked-about consumer brands of the 2010s. Now he is starting over with Heirloom Craft, and he will talk about what he learned the first time, why he is doing it again, and how AI is changing his approach to building brands and leading teams.
More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Why This Event Matters Right Now
StrictlyVC has always positioned itself as more than a conference. The pitch is access: candid conversations with people who do not typically sit on public stages, followed by unstructured networking where the real deals often get started. Past events have hosted heavyweights including Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, Signal president Meredith Whittaker, Haun Ventures CEO Katie Haun, and Replit CEO Amjad Masad.
For New York's startup community, the return is a signal. The city has long played second fiddle to Silicon Valley in venture capital lore. But when an event with this kind of speaker pedigree chooses to come back after a two-year gap, it reflects where the center of gravity is shifting. Founders no longer need to fly west to get in front of the right investors.
The event also arrives at a moment when founders are navigating a more selective funding environment than the zero-interest-rate boom years. Capital is available, as the H1 numbers show, but it is going to companies with stronger fundamentals. Events like StrictlyVC offer something harder to quantify than a pitch deck: proximity to the people writing the checks.
What to Watch Next
Keep an eye on the speaker roster over the next few weeks. StrictlyVC typically saves its biggest names for later announcements. If the pattern holds, the September 10 lineup will get more interesting before the event itself.