
| PANELISTS: | |
![]() |
RICHARD WATERS West Coast Editor, The Financial Times Richard Waters is the West Coast Editor for the Financial Times. His beat covers the technology industry. Before moving to the West Coast, Mr Waters was based in the FT's New York office for nine years. His roles there included Wall Street reporter, New York bureau chief, and the FT's first information industries editor, overseeing global coverage of technology, telecommunications and media. He previously worked at the FT in London where he held a number of positions, including editor of international capital markets, securities industry correspondent and accountancy and taxation correspondent. Before working for the FT, Mr. Waters worked as a reporter and editor for several financial magazines. He also worked for two years at Lloyd's Bank International and lived in Chile, also working as a teacher. In 2004, he was awarded Corporate Finance Reporter of the Year for his coverage of Google's IPO. He was shortlisted for the Business & Finance Reporter of the Year award at the British Press Awards in 2003 and won the award in 1992 as part of a team covering the BCCI scandal. In 1988, he was named Accountancy Journalist of the Year. He appears regularly on the BBC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNNfn and NPR. Mr. Waters received his Bachelor's degree from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University |
![]() |
BILL REICHERT Partner, Pegasus Tech Ventures Bill Reichert is a Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, a $2 billion global venture capital firm with headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices around the world. Bill focuses on deep technology investments, including AI, quantum computing, next-generation chips, materials science, and medical technology. He is also Chief Evangelist of Startup World Cup, the largest and richest venture capital competition on the planet, with over $1.5 million in cash prizes, including a $1 million grand prize. Bill is co-author of the pitching guide, “Getting to Wow! Silicon Valley Pitch Secrets for Entrepreneurs.” He has been a venture capital investor for 20 years, originally as co-founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that has been acquired by Pegasus. He has taught at Stanford and Berkeley, and has delivered keynotes and workshops around the world. He began his Silicon Valley career as an entrepreneur, taking two companies public as co-founder or senior executive. Early in his career he worked for McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, in Los Angeles, and the World Bank in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. |
| VALERIE BERTELE Startups & Ai Partnerships, Microsoft Valerie, a global leader and advocate for female empowerment, she is also an angel investor, VC and an international speaker. She is an alumna of Stanford Graduate School of Business, Nankai University and was previously with Google and Boston Scientific. Currently, Valerie serves as the General Parter at Yellow Rocks Capital, https://yellowrocks.vc/ - San Francisco based early stage VC fund and accelerator, with the current focus in AI companies in Future of Work, Fintech and EdTech. With a career spanning multiple countries (China, Germany, France, USA, Australia, UAE and KSA) and disciplines, she possesses extensive global multidisciplinary experience. Valerie is also consulting several governments on Innovation, Investing and building a GovTech community. Together with helping late stage companies attract growth funding and build expansion and exit strategy. As an active member of community Valerie is organizing events in San Francisco and globally for philanthropy, art and culture, and working with several organizations to empower women in technology, STEM and investing to address gender gap. |
|
![]() |
MANVEER SANDHU
|
![]() |
MURRAY NEWLANDS IA Seed Ventures Bio to be added |
Wednesday Apr 1, 2026
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM PDT
Networking - 5.30 - 6.30pm
Panel Session - 6.30 - 7.30
Q & A / Post Event Networking - 7.30 - 8.00
SAP
3410 Hillview Ave, Building 1
Palo Alto, CA
THANK YOU TO OUR
CONFIRMED SPONSORS:
Platinum Sponsors

![]()
TICKET PRICING FOR THIS EVENT
$75- BABC Members
$95 - Non-Members
$50 - Young Professionals Members*
*Please reach out directly to attend at the BABC Young Professionals Member Rate
Hors D'oeuvres and beverages included.
SPECIAL OFFER - SOUTH BAY SPRING PASS
Attend both this and the Spring European Networking Mixer on April 30th at a bundle price
$90 - BABC Members
$120 - Non-Members
By registering to attend a BABC Event, you consent to BABC`s collection and storage of the data you have provided to BABC. Additionally, from time to time, our Event sponsors request that we share information with them of those individuals who attended our events, including attendee's name, job title, company name, physical address and email address, and we comply with such requests. However, should you wish to opt out of the sharing of this information with the sponsors of this event, please click here to unsubscribe.
BABC Events Team - (415) 296 8645
Send Email