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Over cold drinks in the Florida heat, this TechCrunch reporter watched from the paddock as founders and investors \u2014 the rich and the richer \u2014 mingled in search of deals. Conversations barely paused, except for the occasional glance at the track where drivers, sealed inside multi-million-dollar machines, chased the chequered flag.<\/p>\n
F1 weekend is a three-day affair, with the race as the finale. In between are kickoffs, soir\u00e9es, cocktail parties, dinners, and nightclub takeovers \u2014 spaces where business and pleasure blur. Events like this, where wealth concentrates, have historically been places where business deals are struck. But the popularity of the F1 paddock has grown in recent years, especially among the startup and venture crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hot place for everyone with access trying to strike a deal,\u201d one founder said, recalling being brought to the paddock by a venture firm two years ago. <\/p>\n
This year, Chandler Malone, a founder, said he didn\u2019t even attend the race; he only went to some of the side events. So many venture firms were hosting them and much more than usual, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou name the fund, it was someone there hosting clients,\u201d Marell Evans, an investor, also told TechCrunch. \u201cLots of folks missed Milken for F1 Miami.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
F1 teams, once sponsored by major oil, tobacco, banks, and alcohol companies, have embraced the new railroad giants. The F1 team liveries this season \u2014 plastered with AI, cloud computing, and enterprise company logos \u2014 is a literal sign pointing to where the money is.<\/p>\n
The past five years reflects the shift. In that time, Oracle became the title sponsor of Red Bull Racing team, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team struck a multi-year partnership<\/a> with Microsoft, CoreWeave became Aston Martin Aramco\u2019s official AI cloud partner, Anthropic began working with Williams Racing, Palantir and IBM partnered with Ferrari, AWS began providing data analytics to F1, and the audio app ElevenLabs and fintech Revolut have teamed up with Audi. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> Some VC and PE firms also own stakes in F1 teams, including Dorilton Capital\u2019s 2020 acquisition<\/a> of Williams Racing and the 200 million euro investment into Alpine by backers Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Maximum Effort Investments.<\/p>\n Hannan Happi, founder of the climate startup Exowatt, credits the 2020 Netflix F1 show \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d as a catalyst for increasing audience interest. But the tech industry showing up in force is more recent, Happi said, \u201creally the last three or four years.\u201d He cited all the big tech companies that have moved into the sport, including crypto and AI brands. \u201cWhere the sponsors go, the executives will follow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder, then, that TechCrunch ran into Lightspeed Ventures CMO Josh Machiz, who explained that founders and execs from many startups in its portfolio were also roaming the paddock. The goal for them, he said, was to strike some enterprise deals with other startups and tech giants.<\/p>\n Though TechCrunch ran into Machiz in the IBM Paddock, he said the firm actually has a structured program in place with Aston Martin to help introduce Lightspeed founders to Aston Martin and its enterprise clients. In the paddock, CIOs and CISOs stand next to CEOs, and rooms are small enough for people to actually chat with each other, Machiz said. Aston Martin, like all the F1 teams, is actively looking for ways to leverage the latest tech, as well as meet the founders behind it.<\/p>\n Technology has always been central to F1, helping drive advancements in consumer tech and car safety. Looking ahead is how teams stay ahead and these days, if a startup like Anthropic gets big enough, the team can nab a future sponsor, too.<\/p>\n Machiz calls Lightspeed the first firm to formalize this kind of partnership and said the Miami race brought in 10 portfolio companies. And it produced results, he said. One of the firm\u2019s blockchain companies struck a handshake deal dover the weekend, and one of its AI infrastructure startups closed two more. Two came from Aston introductions, while the third came by chance, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Aston Martin tech team also opened doors to our founders and talked about what they need from builders,\u201d Machiz continued.<\/p>\n Machiz, who used to work at Redpoint, joined Lightspeed just a few months ago. One of the first things he wanted to do was to challenge the idea of the \u201ctraditional founder retreat,\u201d where startups and their investors spend time in a remote location, talking, catching up, and, well, sometimes being bored out of their minds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consistent ask from founders was always the same, \u2018help me meet more buyers,\u2019\u201d Machiz said, recalling when he used to help plan founder retreats. \u201cAnother weekend in Sonoma was never going to do that, and the reviews were always that while [it was] nice to spend time together and to meet tech luminaries or VIP speakers, they\u2019d have rather been building or meeting customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of another retreat, he took the Lightspeed Venture portfolio to F1. It is, after all, he said, \u201cone of the densest concentrations of enterprise buyers anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunity was obvious,\u201d Machiz continued. \u201cWe wanted to build a structure around it, not just show up.\u201d<\/p>\n Farooq Malik, founder of the Lightspeed company Rain, said he managed to close a deal, connect with another prospective client, and meet another founder whose product he\u2019s interested in using as part of Rain\u2019s ERP (enterprise resource planning). \u201cThis model was a lot more interactive with more organic interactions,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just startup founders, either. Evans, the investor, said backers are tired of going to dinner and attending conferences. \u201cThey want to see real-world experiences, and why not do it at the fastest-growing company in the world right now, F1?,\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n Evans said top money makers like seeing how their business world intertwines with the tech these car teams are using. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen different brands showcase how they\u2019re using AI for the drivers and some of the technology they\u2019re using inside the cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Investor Immpana Srri said she went to Miami this year to look for deals and noted that over the past five years it has become a place for tech people to meet up. <\/p>\n \u201cSponsors followed, investors followed, and founders followed. Now it\u2019s just where people are,\u201d Srri said.<\/p>\n The race is actually quite fast, she said, and it\u2019s the pre-race and post-race events that matter most over the three-day weekend. Srri flew in by herself, ran into some friends, then got an invite to the McLaren paddock and other brand activations \u2014 a micro-conference, she called it \u2014 where she met other operators, allocators, and founders. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all priced as a filter,\u201d she said of how expensive tickets can be. \u201cBy the time you\u2019re inside, the room has done the sorting for you. Everyone there has capital, the deal flow, or the kind of track record that justifies dropping six figures on a weekend.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Machiz, she also noted how tiny the spaces are \u2014 a pressure cooker of people quietly trying to one-up each other in conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cDeals get showcased; names get dropped. Stuff gets teased. Over the weekend, I heard pitches across defense, CPG, and more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Happi, the founder of Exowatt, said F1 champion-turned-investor Nico Rosberg stopped by the startup\u2019s headquarters over the Miami Grand Prix weekend to see what the team was building.<\/p>\n Happi said F1 represents something tech also identifies with: \u201cengineering excellence, rapid iteration, a willingness to spend big to win.\u201d<\/p>\n The aesthetic of the whole sport, he continued, matches the startup world. It\u2019s international by nature, he added, and the fact that the event usually lasts a few days gives people time to close a deal, should they wish.<\/p>\n \u201cF1 is a luxury sport by nature, and that brings a certain type of person,\u201d Happi said, adding that he\u2019s heard of deals getting closed \u201cin the helicopter to the hotel to the track.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t hurt that Miami and Las Vegas, suddenly two of the marquee races, are in really fun, entertainment-led cities,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Miami kicked off the Lightspeed Aston Martin program, and Machiz hopes to continue throughout the season, at least at the U.S. races, the last of which is Las Vegas in November. Then, he wants to expand his program internationally and is planning to bring a small group of their European founders to England\u2019s Silverstone later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIn AI, distribution is speed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe firms that win are the ones that can get founders in front of buyers and into deals faster than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA concentration of enterprise buyers <\/h2>\n
\u2018Everyone there has capital\u2019<\/h2>\n