San Francisco has never lacked ambition, capital, or ideas. What has shifted over the past few years is how, where, and why people in tech and finance come together. That shift was on full display at the recent San Francisco Tech & Finance Networking Event, held at Skylark in the Mission.
On the surface, it was a straightforward professional meetup. In practice, it became a useful window into the current state of fintech in San Francisco and a signal of where the city’s fintech ecosystem may be headed next.
A Ground-Level View: Conversations That Cut Through the Noise
What struck me most was the tone of the room. This was not a speculative, buzzword-heavy crowd chasing the next overnight unicorn. Conversations were pragmatic, thoughtful, and refreshingly grounded.
Early in the evening, I spoke with a finance professional visiting from London who is currently with Morgan Stanley. Our discussion quickly moved past market headlines and into how large institutions are thinking about risk, infrastructure, and long-term adoption of emerging financial technologies. The takeaway was clear. Major financial players are no longer asking if new models will integrate into the system, but how they do so responsibly and at scale.
That mindset set the tone for the night.
New Models of Value Creation
Later, I connected with David Blader, founder of Evansify, whose work sits at the intersection of fintech, AI, and the creator economy. Evansify is building a platform that turns AI influencers into investable assets, connecting creators and investors through licensing, NFTs, and synthetic media innovation.
What made that conversation particularly interesting was not just the novelty of the idea, but how seriously it treated ownership, monetization, and structure. This was not hype-driven AI meets finance. It was a thoughtful attempt to answer a very real question. How do financial systems adapt when value creation itself is evolving?
That theme surfaced repeatedly throughout the evening. Fintech is no longer just about moving money faster. It is increasingly about redefining what is being financed and how value itself is structured.
San Francisco Tech & Finance Networking Event at Skylark Bar in San Francisco
Fintech in San Francisco: A Reset, Not a Retreat
There has been plenty of talk about fintech leaving San Francisco. Based on the people in the room and the conversations taking place, that framing feels incomplete.
Fintech is not disappearing from the city. It is recalibrating.
San Francisco may no longer be the place where every fintech startup is born, but it remains one of the most important places where fintech ideas are refined, challenged, and stress-tested. The city’s strength today lies less in volume and more in density of experience.
You could feel that in the conversations. Founders and operators are increasingly focused on building infrastructure rather than surface-level applications, designing compliance-aware platforms instead of regulatory arbitrage plays, and developing B2B and embedded solutions rather than consumer-only experiments. This is fintech growing up.
Where the Momentum Is Right Now
Several patterns emerged repeatedly throughout the night. There is strong interest in embedded finance models that quietly power other businesses behind the scenes. Conversations around AI focused less on broad promises and more on specific applications such as fraud detection, underwriting, risk modeling, and operational reconciliation.
There is also growing curiosity around alternative asset and income models, particularly as creators, synthetic media, and new licensing structures reshape how value is created and monetized. Nearly every conversation touched on capital discipline, runway, and sustainability, which is an unmistakable sign of a more mature ecosystem.
The Role San Francisco Still Plays
San Francisco’s advantage today is not speed, cost, or scale. It is judgment. This is a city where ideas are interrogated, business models are challenged, and technical depth still matters.
In that sense, San Francisco is becoming fintech’s filter rather than its factory. That may be a quieter role than in past cycles, but it is arguably a more important one.
If this event was any indication, fintech in San Francisco is entering a phase defined by fewer companies with stronger fundamentals, less noise and more signal, and products designed for longevity rather than headlines.
Walking away from the event, the takeaway was clear. San Francisco fintech is no longer trying to prove it exists. It is focused on proving it works.
