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Join Fin, Anthropic, and Clay at Pioneer on October 7th
Pioneer, the summit where CX leaders redefine what’s possible, is on October 7th.
Join leaders from Fin, Anthropic, and Clay for an insightful conversation on the state of AI transformation.
You’ll discover how some of the most innovative minds in CX have transformed their organizations, learn how they think about CX, and hear how they're planning for what's next.
Join the conversation in San Francisco, or tune in virtually.
Hola Familia to Edition #128- This one is special.
For almost 5 years, our community has lived on Whatsapp and Slack. Next Wednesday we are officially launching the LaFamilia Platform where you can search who is in the community based on industry, check writing, and exited founders. Save the date HERE.
For the remainder of the year we are uniting our community through 6 Hispanic Heritage Month Events, a digital platform, and the VCF Awards Gala in San Francisco on December 3rd.
Table of Contents
AI & Tech News
Cognition Raises $2B at $48B Valuation for AI Coding Agents — San Francisco-based Cognition, which develops AI coding agents, closed a $2 billion funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst. This mega-round underscores investor appetite for AI developer tools at scale. Read more →
Celero Communications Raises $275M Series C for AI Data Center Chips — Irvine-based Celero Communications, a two-year-old startup building optical connectivity chips for AI data centers, raised $275 million at a $3+ billion valuation. Strong signal for infrastructure plays in the AI compute race. Read more →
Crusoe Triples Valuation to $30B on AI Data Center Bet — Crusoe Energy has tripled its valuation to $30 billion by betting hard on AI data centers, reflecting the explosive growth of compute infrastructure demand. A key marker for where investor capital is flowing in 2026. Read more →
GCVC Launches $50M+ Fund for LegalTech and Compliance Startups — A new New York venture fund backed by over 50 corporate general counsels and law firm Wilson Sonsini launched to invest in early-stage legal, regulatory, and compliance technology startups. Niche but well-capitalized opportunity in a growing sector. Read more →
🎩 VCFamilia Awards Gala, Dec 3 in SF — Tickets, Volunteers & Nominations
The 3rd Annual VCFamilia Awards Reception is officially open for registration. Join us for a black-tie night in San Francisco celebrating this year's Rising Star, Catalyst, and Legacy honorees — plus food, drinks, and a live auction supporting VCFamilia's mission.
Early-bird pricing is live now through October 15. It sold out last year, so don't wait. Get your tickets →
Know someone doing great work in Latine venture? Nominations for this year's awards are open. Submit a nomination →
Want to be part of making the night happen? We're looking for volunteers for check-in, guest support, and day-of logistics. Sign up to volunteer →
LaFamilia Events - Hispanic Heritage Month
Grants & Accelerators
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Build Accelerator: A ten-week virtual program focused on product development, cloud infrastructure, analytics and AI/ML. Applications open: Aug 8–Sep 22 🔗 https://aws.amazon.com/startups/programs/build?lang=en-US
High Five Grant — $10k grand prize, $5,000 and $2,500 for runners-up, plus five $1,000 honorable mentions. Nine awards total, which is meaningfully better odds than a single-winner competition. Requires posting your story on social and tagging the sponsors. Best fit: mothers and expectant mothers owning at least half a business doing $10K to $500K, in the U.S. or Canada. Apply by September 30. Apply →
Outta Excuses Grant — $3k +$3,000 plus a month of weekly business coaching. Applying also enters you for a $10,000 bonus award in November. Requires attending the live Zoom announcement. $15 fee. Open to for-profits and nonprofits, which is rare. Best fit: U.S. LLCs or 501(c)(3)s under $500K in revenue who've been passed over by traditional funders.📅 Q3 cycle closes September 30. Apply →
Business Freedom Grant — $1k no revenue minimum, idea stage welcome. They publish a 10-point scoring rubric: clarity of idea, feasibility, impact of the grant, and passion, so write straight to those four. Best fit: someone who has never applied for a grant and needs a first one that's actually winnable.📅 Closes September 30. Apply →
Giving Joy Microgrant — $500 open to women anywhere in the world with no geographic restriction, and you don't need to already own a business. Projects have to benefit multiple women, girls, or families rather than just the founder. They explicitly prefer a strong idea over a polished application. Best fit: community-impact ventures and founders intimidated by grant writing.📅 Fall cycle closes September 30. Apply →
Velocity Conference
When you're a change maker and a leader, you move with velocity. Join LaFamilia on October 7–9, 2026 in LA for the business event of the year: first access to new, exclusive data and exactly how to turn it into action.
Register HERE
#Velocity2026 #MoveWithVelocity
Open Positions in VC and Startups 💼
VC Partnerships Manager at OpenAI (San Francisco) — Apply →
Associate at M12 (Microsoft's CVC) (San Francisco) — Apply →
Senior Portfolio Development Manager at M12 (Microsoft's CVC) (Redmond, WA) — Apply →
Director (Platform) at McKesson Ventures (Multiple Locations) — Apply →
Tax Lead at IVP (Menlo Park, CA) — Apply →
Associate at Farmhand Ventures (Remote) — Apply →
Multiple Investment Team Roles at Oak HC/FT (Various Locations) — Apply →
Associate at Leonis Capital (San Francisco) — Apply →
Venture Lead at Basel Area Business & Innovation (Basel, Switzerland) — Apply →
Director at TechPoint (Indianapolis, IN) — Apply →
Associate (Platform) at Point Nine (Berlin) — Apply →
Associate at Mercia Ventures (Nottingham) — Apply →
Associate at Haufe Group Ventures (Berlin) — Apply →
Chief of Staff to Managing Partner at Venture Capital (Remote) — Apply →
Operating Partner, Fundraising & Technology at Venture Capital (Remote) — Apply →
MBA Fellow at Collide Capital (Remote) — Apply →
Visiting Analyst at Seedcamp (London) — Apply →
Visiting Associate at Quona (EMEA (Remote)) — Apply →
Associate (Incubation) at Primary Venture Partners (SF) — Apply →
Associate at B Capital (SF) — Apply →
Associate at Huntington Ventures (NYC) — Apply →
Associate at HarbourVest Partners (Boston, MA) — Apply →
Investor at Galaxy (NYC) — Apply →
Principal at Olive Asset Management (Palo Alto, CA) — Apply →
Principal at ICA Fund (Oakland, CA) — Apply →
Director at 3M Ventures (Maplewood, MN / San Francisco, CA) — Apply →
Deal Lead at Deloitte CoVentures (Multiple Locations) — Apply →
Deal Lead at Robinhood Ventures (Menlo Park, CA) — Apply →
Chief of Staff at Cowboy Ventures (SF) — Apply →
Senior Manager, Community & Engagement at Mission-driven VC ecosystem nonprofit (SF) — Apply →
MBA Fellow at Halogen Ventures (Remote) — Apply →
Senior Analyst at Helios Energy Ventures (Remote) — Apply →
Associate at SemiAnalysis (SF) — Apply →
Associate at MCJ (Remote - SF, LA, Boston, Austin) — Apply →
Associate at $10B+ Brand Name Investment Firm (SCGC) (Menlo Park, CA) — Apply →
Associate at Orange Juice (Remote) — Apply →
Associate at Rhapsody Venture Partners (Cambridge, MA) — Apply →
Associate at Nexus Bay Capital (SF) — Apply →
Investor at Costanoa Ventures (SF) — Apply →
Head of Legal and Venture Operations at Samsung Next (Mountain View, CA) — Apply →
Partner, Capital Syndication (VC/PE) at Venture Recruiting (Various) — Apply →
Fund Operations Analyst 2 at Schroders (NYC) — Apply →
Venture Lead at Nesta (London) — Apply →
Founder to Watch - Jakson Alvarez 🇨🇴
Jakson Alvarez grew up in Colombia, where his clearest childhood memory of the street is tasting bus exhaust and hearing engines loud enough to shake windows. He moved to the US at 12. The sustainability itch stayed with him, and so did the realization that here, persistence could turn into a company.
Almost seven years ago, Jakson and co-founder Bill B. started Evolectric - CircularEV™ Solutions after years spent building batteries and electric vehicles. Over 50 vehicles are on the road across California, plus one in Mexico. $6M raised, bootstrapped at the start on purpose. Every truck is connected, takes over-the-air updates, and is vehicle-to-grid capable.
Community ask 💬: Evolectric is raising a $10M Series A plus $5M in debt, with a SAFE at a discount and up to $1M open through an SPV for smaller checks. They want Latino investors on the cap table, especially anyone who can help them scale across Latin America. They are also looking to connect with automotive service centers and dealers, leasing and hardware-as-a-service companies, and infrastructure players working on charging and the grid.
If you’re building on AI, you know how fast token spend can get messy: usage spikes, bills show up late, and no one’s totally sure which model, team, or workflow drove the cost. Ramp gives founders real-time visibility into AI spend across vendors, models, teams, and individuals — plus anomaly alerts before a surprise bill hits.
Founders are using it to:
Catch runaway token spend before it eats runway
Compare model costs and switch to cheaper options when performance doesn’t justify the price
Show investors and see yourselves how efficiently the team is using AI to drive output
→ Sign up free: https://ramp.com/partners/lafamilia-foundation
→ Reach Alua directly at [email protected] to get set up
We pull this newsletter together every two weeks for free. If today's grants list, jobs, or events helped you, the easiest way to say thanks is to chip in here.
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We pull this newsletter together every two weeks for free. If today's grants list, jobs, or events helped you, the easiest way to say thanks is to chip in here. Even $5 keeps the lights on. We've got 7,500+ of you. If even a fraction of you covered a coffee, that's our entire year.
La unión hace la fuerza.
