Orion VC SF Tech Week Recap — Future of AI Infrastructure & Robotics
How did it go
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SF TECH WEEK
As part of #SFTechWeek by a16z, Orion VC hosted the “Future of AI Infrastructure & Robotics” pitch competition, in line with our focus on AI infrastructure and robotics.
The winner, Chinar Movsisyan (Feedback Intelligence), was recognized for her work on improving how companies evaluate and optimize conversational AI through continuous human feedback.



JUDGES
The judging panel included Armen Fljyan (Orion VC) alongside Matt Vail (OpenAI), Jason Cui (Andreessen Horowitz), Vincent Vanhoucke (Waymo), Olga Chumanskaya (Khosla Ventures), Radhika Malik (Dell Technologies Capital), Marissa Ramirez de Chanlatte (Playground Global), Dan Stolyarov (Almaz Capital), Joseph Ros (Entrepreneurs First), Matviy K. (Berkeley SkyDeck), and Keenan Wyrobek (Zipline).


PARTNERS
Thanks to our partners for powering the day: AWS, Rippling, Appolo, Lovable, and Entrepreneurs First.
MEDIA
Our own Armen Fljyan just wrote “The Future of Defensibility,” a look at how companies build lasting advantages in the age of AI. He explains how defensibility is moving beyond scale and data moats toward a new era of adaptive, RL-trained agents that learn from feedback and get better over time - making them truly hard to copy.
Read it here.
BBQ PARTY
Right after #SFTechWeek, we wrapped up in the heart of Palo Alto with a small backyard BBQ - founders, investors, and friends gathered over wine and Armenian BBQ. Between the smoke of the grill and the sound of clinking glasses, it was the perfect way to toast to what’s next in innovation.
Thanks for reading! You can follow us on LinkedIn for the latest. Comment here or DM to Sergey Dean or Armen Fljyan.
See you soon,
Orion VC team

