F1 Paddock: A Hotbed for Tech Deals and Startup Networking

Over cold drinks in the Florida heat, a TechCrunch reporter observed the F1 paddock as founders and investors—both rich and richer—mingled in search of deals. Conversations barely paused, except for occasional glances at the track where drivers, sealed inside multi-million-dollar machines, chased the chequered flag.

F1 weekend is a three-day affair, with the race as the finale. In between are kickoffs, soirées, cocktail parties, dinners, and nightclub takeovers—spaces where business and pleasure blur. Events like this, where wealth concentrates, have historically been places where deals are struck. But the popularity of the F1 paddock has grown in recent years, especially among the startup and venture crowd.

“It’s a hot place for everyone with access trying to strike a deal,” one founder said, recalling being brought to the paddock by a venture firm two years ago. This year, Chandler Malone, another founder, said he didn’t even attend the race; he only went to some of the side events. “You name the fund, it was someone there hosting clients,” Marell Evans, an investor, also told TechCrunch.

F1 teams, once sponsored by major oil, tobacco, banks, and alcohol companies, have embraced the new railroad giants. The F1 team liveries this season—plastered with AI, cloud computing, and enterprise company logos—are a literal sign pointing to where the money is. The past five years reflect the shift. In that time, Oracle became the title sponsor of Red Bull Racing, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS struck a multi-year partnership with Microsoft, CoreWeave became Aston Martin Aramco’s 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.

Some VC and PE firms also own stakes in F1 teams, including Dorilton Capital’s 2020 acquisition of Williams Racing and the 200 million euro investment into Alpine by backers Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Maximum Effort Investments. Hannan Happi, founder of the climate startup Exowatt, credits the 2020 Netflix F1 show “Drive to Survive” as a catalyst for increasing audience interest. But the tech industry showing up in force is more recent, Happi said, “really the last three or four years.” He cited all the big tech companies that have moved into the sport, including crypto and AI brands.

A concentration of enterprise buyers

It’s no wonder, then, that TechCrunch ran into Lightspeed Ventures CMO Josh Machiz. The firm has a formal program in place with the entity that owns Formula 1 for the three races in U.S. cities—Austin, Las Vegas, and Miami. As part of this program, Machiz worked with Aston Martin Aramco and other F1 teams to help introduce Lightspeed founders to these entities and their 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, “The opportunity was obvious. We wanted to build a structure around it, not just show up.” Lightspeed’s Miami race brought in 10 portfolio companies, and it produced results. One of the firm’s blockchain companies struck a handshake deal over the weekend, and one of its AI infrastructure startups closed two more deals. Two came from Aston introductions, while the third came by chance.

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’s interested in using as part of Rain’s ERP (enterprise resource planning). “This model was a lot more interactive with more organic interactions,” Malik said.

Investor Immpana Srri said she went to Miami this year to look for deals. Over the past five years, it has become a place for tech people to meet up. “Sponsors followed, investors followed, and founders followed. Now it’s just where people are,” Srri said.

Hanni Happi, founder of Exowatt, said F1 champion-turned-investor Nico Rosberg stopped by the startup’s headquarters over the Miami Grand Prix weekend to see what the team was building. “F1 represents something tech also identifies with: engineering excellence, rapid iteration, a willingness to spend big to win,” Happi said.

Machiz hopes to continue his program throughout the season and expand internationally. “In AI, distribution is speed,” he said. “The firms that win are the ones that can get founders in front of buyers and into deals faster than anyone else.”