At ARK Invest\'s Big Ideas Summit

Last week in St. Petersburg, I was fortunate to attend spARK Labs by ARK Invest’s Big Ideas Summit, speak on their investor panel, and co-host a dinner the prior evening with the ARK Invest team.

At dinner, graciously hosted by our Raymond James team, an intimate group of thought leaders and innovators gathered for an evening of great food and conversation. Founders, investors, advisors, and policy makers all together – Cathie Wood, Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., Chase Prather , Tom Staudt, Brett Winton, Andy Tang, Dillon Auxier, Kent Nelson, Patrick Sauve, Dr. Wes Naylor, Mike Packer, Michael Anderson, Becca Brown and others.

At the BIG Ideas Summit the following day, dialogue and ideas ranged across AI, Defense/ Space, Multiomics, Robotics, Healthcare Delivery, and more ... it was truly a vibrant and diverse community of founders and supportive network.

spARK Labs by ARK Invest is bringing together technical founders, research and academia, government, healthcare constituents (hospitals, cancer research), and capital to accelerate the pace of innovation and collaboration in the St. Pete ecosystem. In a world where AI can unlock some of the most complex problems in our economy, but requires more than great technology and capital, spARK Labs by ARK Invest is catalyzing new platform creation in this rapidly expanding ecosystem.

ARK Investment Management LLC is playing a leading role in the thesis around convergence of technologies from the public market all the way down to venture and incubation. In parallel, through their innovative investment fund structures, they are democratizing access to disruptive innovation for all investors. It is both a bold and admirable strategy.

Thanks to Becca Brown and the entire team for all of their amazing work. Grateful to have been there and look forward to building together !

Originally posted on LinkedIn.