SF Weekly Pulse: Issue 02

🌟 Editor's Note

Welcome to another exciting week in San Francisco's vibrant tech ecosystem! We've got a packed newsletter full of insights, events, and inspiring stories from the heart of innovation.

🗓️ Upcoming Deadlines

🚀 Stay Inspired

The Rise of Generative AI in Unexpected Places

• Healthcare Revolution: AI now generating personalized treatment plans in 67% of major hospitals

• Creative Industries Disruption: Generative AI creating initial drafts for films, music, and design projects

• Unexpected Stat: 42% of Fortune 500 companies now have dedicated generative AI teams

Quantum Computing Goes Mainstream

• Major tech companies investing billions in quantum infrastructure

• First commercial quantum computers now available for enterprise rental

• Potential to solve complex problems in minutes that would take classical computers thousands of years - article here

🦄 Startup Spotlight

Pixel Pioneers: The Quirky Startup Redefining Digital Creativity

They are a startup to watch as they are democratizing high-end design for small businesses, reducing design creation time by 80% & proving that creativity can be both seriously innovative and seriously fun.

The Backstory: Founded by three former Pixar animators who got tired of traditional design workflows

Key Innovation: An AI-powered design platform that turns stick figure sketches into professional-grade illustrations in seconds

Funding: $5M seed round, backed by Silicon Valley's most eccentric investors

🔥 In Case You Missed It…

Funding Roundup

• Quantum Leap Technologies secured $45M Series B, led by Sequoia Capital, to advance quantum computing infrastructure for enterprise solutions.

• EcoGrid AI raised $22M to develop machine learning algorithms for renewable energy grid optimization.

• MindSync Neurtech closed a $15M seed round to expand its brain-computer interface research.

🏆 Reader of the Week

The Flip Phone Rebel 

Despite developing state-of-the-art AI technology, Alex Rodriguez sports a beat-up flip phone that's become something of a local legend in San Francisco's tech circles. "It's my conversation starter," he jokes. "I can build complex machine learning algorithms, but I refuse to give up my trusty Nokia."

His colleagues often tease him about the phone, but Alex sees it as a symbol of his unconventional approach to technology. "Just because something is old doesn't mean it's not valuable," he says with a grin. "Same goes for people, algorithms, and apparently, mobile phones."

A graduate of Stanford's computer science program, Alex embodies the innovative spirit of San Francisco's tech ecosystem—proving that breakthrough innovation can come from someone who still uses T9 texting.

Did You Know? The first computer bug was literally a bug—in 1947, Grace Hopper found a moth trapped in a Harvard Mark II computer, coining the term "debugging" in the process.

Till next time,

SF Weekly Pulse

New technology to make diamonds

There was a test to make diamond out of food and it actually worked, this was done with peanut butter because of its cabon rich property it proved that diamonds could be made without high pressure high temperature and chemical vapor deposition.

These process of making lab grown diamonds are beginning to be easier because of better technology, this means that they can mimic the conditions of the earth's force by turning rich carbon materials into diamonds and this could be anything that has that property. They can use coal or other rich carbon materials to create diamonds.

Although this technology can create diamonds with cabon rich materials it is still a long process to make it without rich carbon materials but the more technology improves the easier it will be to use materials with low carbon atoms that can be forced to create diamonds.

What investment is rudimentary for billionaires but ‘revolutionary’ for 70,571+ investors entering 2026?

Imagine this. You open your phone to an alert. It says, “you spent $236,000,000 more this month than you did last month.”

If you were the top bidder at Sotheby’s fall auctions, it could be reality.

Sounds crazy, right? But when the ultra-wealthy spend staggering amounts on blue-chip art, it’s not just for decoration.

The scarcity of these treasured artworks has helped drive their prices, in exceptional cases, to thin-air heights, without moving in lockstep with other asset classes.

The contemporary and post war segments have even outpaced the S&P 500 overall since 1995.*

Now, over 70,000 people have invested $1.2 billion+ across 500 iconic artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

How? You don’t need Medici money to invest in multimillion dollar artworks with Masterworks.

Thousands of members have gotten annualized net returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% from 26 sales to date.

Explore offerings

_{*Based on Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd}