From ore to orbit - #SFTechWeek

Name: From ore to orbit - #SFTechWeek
Start: 2026-10-08T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2026-10-08T04:00:00.000Z
Location: SVB Experience Center

Wednesday, Oct 7

5:00pm – 9:00pm

Hosted by

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Critical minerals have become the strategic chokepoint of modern industrial supply chains. The companies that can extract, process, and refine them at scale will shape the next decade of AI infrastructure, energy systems, and national security. Join OVNI Capital and Gigascale for an evening in downtown San Francisco built for founders, operators, and investors who care about the physical constraints behind the next wave of technology. Hosted at the SVB Experience Center. Agenda (download the Speakers' booklet: https://www.papermark.com/view/cmsfgfgjc0001l204m29q65s4 5:00 – 6:00 · Doors open Food and drinks from the moment you arrive. 6:00 – 6:05 · Welcome & framing Quick context from the hosts on why this moment matters. 6:05 – 6:20 · Opening remarks: Permission to Build Delian Asparouhov (Founders Fund, Varda Space Industries) on why frontiers are not won by discovery, but by whoever industrializes first. 6:20 – 6:50 · Panel 1: Who Controls the Midstream Processing and refining concentration, export controls, and the structural gaps that new Western capacity must close for AI power systems, batteries, and defense. Moderator: Evaline Tsai (Gigascale Capital) Panelists: Alex Grant (Magrathea), Hooman Reza Nezhad (Solcoa), Wiles Kase (Clareo) and JP Soulier (Prelude Ventures) 6:50 – 6:55 · Break 6:55 – 7:25 · Panel 2: From Process to Plant What it actually takes to turn a critical minerals technology into a deployable business: capital intensity, permitting timelines, offtake structures, and the unit economics that separate interesting science from bankable companies. Moderator: Matt Logan (Earthshot Ventures) Panelists: Rajesh Swaminathan (Khosla Ventures), Milo Werner (DCVC), Jackson Switzer (Red Metals) and Tom Hunt (KoBold Metals) 7:25 – 7:30 · Break 7:30 – 8:00 · Panel 3: What It Means to Build in Mining Four founders on the parts of the job nobody warns you about, from first drill hole to first customer. Moderator: Augustin Sayer (OVNI Capital) Panelists: Turner Caldwell (Mariana Minerals), Ted Feldmann (Durin), Aymeric Préveral-Etcheverry (Lithosquare) and Thomas Wilson (Atana Elements) 8:00 onwards · Light dinner & drinks Provided by the organizers. Grab food, keep talking. 9:00 · Close With thanks to SVB for hosting us at the Experience Center. This event is a part of #SFTechWeek, a week of events hosted by the top founders, funds, and companies to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.