The magic of Sunrise isn’t contained to a stage.
Across the week, it spills out into the city through community-led side events, from dinners and mixers to workshops, pitch nights, cultural encounters, and quiet coffee meetups.
More rooms. More moments. More ways to connect.
Explore the side events across Sunrise week and step into the ones that pull you in.
TUESDAY 28 APRIL 2026
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Live Podcast: Fintech & Agentic AI
🗓️ Tuesday, 28 April 2026
⏰ 5.30pm - 7.30pm
📍 Stone & Chalk Tech Central | Level 1, 477 Pitt St, Haymarket, 2000
Fintech is colliding with agentic AI, reshaping how money moves, risk is managed, and products are built. Join Stripe, Emerging Tech Unpacked and Stone & Chalk for a free Sunrise‑week live podcast, featuring real-world insights and practical lessons from a fintech leader and high‑growth founder, plus networking at Tech Central Sydney.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Emerging Tech Unpacked
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AI Pitch Night
🗓️ Tuesday, 28 April 2026
⏰ 5.30pm - 8.30pm
📍 The Collider | 477 Pitt St, Haymarket, 2000
An evening of founders pushing the limits of what’s possible in AI. We’ll kick things off with a short panel, where our expert judges cut through the hype to share what’s actually happening in AI and funding - what’s hot, what’s shifting, and where the real opportunities lie. Then, 5 emerging AI startups take the stage to pitch to the judges. Expect bold, market-tested concepts, sharp feedback, and insights into what it really takes to stay ahead of the curve. Stick around to connect with the ecosystem, meet founders, investors, and experts, and see firsthand the people shaping the next wave of AI.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Founders Edge
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Community Capital Exchange
🗓️ Tuesday 28 April 2026
⏰ 6:30pm - 8:30pm
📍Haymarket HQ | Level 2/63 Dixon St, Haymarket, 2000
Community Capital Exchange is a curated gathering designed to create meaningful connections beyond typical networking. While talent is everywhere, access to networks and opportunity isn’t always evenly distributed - particularly for those from migrant backgrounds. The event brings together people with migrant backgrounds and the allies who actively support them - founders, investors, operators, professionals and ecosystem builders. Rather than panels or pitching, this is a structured, participation-driven experience focused on real collaboration and opportunity-sharing. The goal is simple: everyone leaves with at least three meaningful new connections that can support their 2026 goals.
Presented in partnership with Haymarket HQ, Crouching Tiger Network and Love Your Rebel Events, and supported by Blackbird’s Sunrise Community Event Grant.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Migrant Wealth Builders
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Before Sunrise: The Micro-Moments That Shape Everything
🗓️ Tuesday 28 April 2026
⏰ 6:00pm - 7:10pm
📍San telmo Studio | 3/25 Wellington St, Chippendale, 2008
This isn’t a class, this is an experience. In the heart of Chippendale, 50 lucky people will co-create a space that sparks, stretches, and mirrors what’s possible. A pause, a breath, a subtle nudge into the unseen. For founders, creatives, operators, and curious minds ready to slow down, tune in, and open to a more holistic self. In 70 minutes, we’ll explore what usually goes unnoticed - bodily signals, hidden patterns, micro-moments shaping your choices. Through reflection and somatic exercises, you’ll shift ingrained thinking, expand perspective, and uncover new ways to approach challenges.
Step out of the rush and re-emerge present, attuned, and alive. Bring this clarity and imagination into your work, community, and the magic of Sunrise ’26.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Wayfinder+Co
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AFTER DARK: Sunrise Edn.
🗓️ Tuesday 28 April 2026
⏰ 6:00pm - 10:00pm
📍 The Abercrombie Hotel | Level 2/100 Broadway, Chippendale, 2008
A Storytelling Event: The Hard Thing About Building Hard Businesses.
AFTER DARK brings together the tech founders and builders in the spaces not often discussed - the taboo, the sub-culture, and the wild frontiers. No corporate polish. No sanitised pitches. Just raw, honest lightning talks about the hard truths of building hard things in provocative industries. This is where innovation meets candor - and in this special Sunrise Conference edition - where the unfiltered stories of bold builders finally get their moment. The official program might not go there. But we will. Speakers Announced: 14th April.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Garry Williams (Chief Chief @ GROUP GROUP) & Kali Norman (Head of Growth @ Innovation Bay)
WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2026
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Kiwi Connections at Sunrise Sydney
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 8:00am - 10:00am
📍 A.P House | Level 2, 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, 2010
A casual morning gathering bringing together New Zealanders from both sides of the Tasman - Kiwi founders and professionals based in Sydney, plus visiting Kiwis in town for Sunrise. Whether you're a local expat building your business in Australia or a New Zealand founder exploring the Sydney market, this is your chance to connect, share experiences, and build trans-Tasman relationships. And if you're not a Kiwi, but work in the ecosystem and want to support the community, you're welcome to join!
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Gabrielle Purchas
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Demistifying Failure and the Art of Pivoting
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 10:00am - 12:00pm
📍Victoria Park | Parramatta Rd, Broadway, 2008
Join us for an open, picnic-style conversation where founders and aspiring entrepreneurs share real stories of failure and the pivots that shaped their journeys. This is a space to learn, connect, and rethink failure as a stepping stone to growth. Come for honest insights, meaningful discussions, and a supportive startup community.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Uswa Sabar & Saachi Arora
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Startup Gals Dinner
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 5:00pm - 7:00pm
📍 Bar Reggio | 135 Crown St, Darlinghurst, 2010
A gathering of smart, ambitious, hilarious women & non-binary folk across the startup ecosystem who deserve a night to bask in each other's brilliance over a proper Italian feast.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Startup Gals
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Sunset Mixer
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 6:00pm - 10:00pm
📍 The Winery | 285A, Crown St, Surry Hills, 2010
Be part of the Sunrise Festival buzz as we take over The Winery in Surry Hills for a massive night with 500 of Australia's best founders, operators and investors. TEN13, OIF Ventures, Archangel Ventures, Folklore Ventures, Gandel Invest, Vanta, Stripe and Blackbird are joining forces for an evening of all-inclusive food, drinks, entertainment and access to the greatest minds in the startup ecosystem.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by TEN13, OIF Ventures, Archangel Ventures, Folklore Ventures, Gandel Invest, Vanta, Stripe
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Scaling for Impact: A ThoughtLeader Gathering
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 6:30pm - 9:00pm
📍 Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney | 481 Crown St, Surry Hills, 2010
Scaling for Impact is a curated dinner for founders, operators, investors, advisors and ecosystem leaders navigating the real tensions between growth, responsibility, viability and values. Hosted at Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney, the evening offers generous hospitality, thoughtful conversation and a more meaningful alternative to standard networking.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Every Bit Counts
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The SAARI Founder Showdown Trivia Night
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 6:30pm - 10.30pm
📍 The Redfern | 106 George St, Redfern, 2016
It’s time to trivia! Your night where mostly useless knowledge becomes incredibly useful. The Showdown is a trivia-style night bringing together founders, operators, investors and creatives from across the startup community - with diverse South Asian founders at the centre. It’s social, a little competitive, and genuinely fun. A night where builders get to brag about the obscure rabbit holes they’ve gone down. It's a trivia night, a curry night and has a $300 prize! This event is open to founders, operators, investors and creatives - especially those who want to meet others across the South Asian and broader startup community, without the usual networking vibe. Come with a team, or come solo - we’ll match you up on the night.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by SAARI Collective
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Till Sunrise
🗓️ Wednesday 29 April 2026
⏰ 7:00pm - late
📍 Redfern | Register to see address
The plan is simple. Show up while the city is still asleep. Meet a few brilliant people you probably should have met already. Watch the skyline slowly turn into sunrise. Along the way we’ll be doing curated matching, introducing founders, operators, and investors who should absolutely know each other.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by IRL By Amber 💎💎
THURSDAY 30 APRIL 2026
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Startmate Demo Day - Summer’26 (at Sunrise)
🗓️ Thursday 30 April 2026
⏰ 7:00pm - 9:00pm
📍Carriageworks | 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh, 2015
Startmate’s Demo Day returns to Sunrise to close out the festivities with a bang. Get front-row access to founders from the Summer ‘26 Accelerator as they take over the main stage to unveil radical progress and boundless ambition - showcasing world-class, category-defining companies being built right here in Australia.
Please note: Demo Day is a separate, ticketed event and requires its own ticket (not included with your Sunrise pass).
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Starmate
FRIDAY 1 MAY 2026
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Startup Basketball 4v4 Tournament
🗓️ Friday 1 May 2026
⏰ 8:00am - 2:00pm
📍 Hoops Capital East | 1 Driver Ave, Moore Park, 2021
Networking meets basketball in a fast-paced three-hour event with 15 teams in a round robin format. Each team is guaranteed 4 games before a single elimination playoff, and one team is crowned the winner. This will be our third annual tourney.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by Australia Startup Basketball
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Australia’s Most Unstoppable Founder - Showcase
🗓️ Friday 1 May 2026
⏰ 5:30pm - 7:30pm
📍 Canva HQ | 110 Kippax St, Surry Hills, 2010
The “Australia’s Most Unstoppable Founder Competition” Showcase by One Roof and March Collective, spotlights women founders building with resilience and momentum, celebrating the founder behind the vision. Held during Sunrise week, it’s a live celebration with finalist showcases and community connection, all genders welcome.
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by One Roof
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Startup Sunset Rave
🗓️ Friday 1 May 2026
⏰ 6:00pm - 9:00pm
📍 Register to see address
Startup Sunset Rave is a sober afternoon rave for founders, students, and creatives to connect over good music, great drinks, and high-energy conversations. It is networking, but done so very differently - it's fresh, fun, and built to spark new ideas, new connections, and big momentum. Plus, a little boogie here and there!
🎟️ Find out more & secure your spot here.
Hosted by HEX