The Fundraising Playbook: What Founders Need to Know to Raise, Build, and Win in 2026

Event ID: PP1149073

Sat, Mar 14, 2026 | 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Venue: Salon C (JW Marriott)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

In today’s market, the challenge isn’t finding opportunities, it’s finding signal in the noise. Join Nizar Tarhuni, EVP of Research & Market Intelligence at PitchBook, and Heath Butler, Partner at Mercury Fund, for a data-driven conversation on where capital is flowing in 2026, the signals investors care about most, how AI is reshaping sourcing and diligence, and what current dynamics mean for fundraising and valuation strategy. Founders will gain a clear view into how investors are making decisions—and how to position their companies to stand out and get funded.

Contributors

Raw Event JSON

Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.

Open JSON payload
{
  "id": "PP1149073",
  "track": "Startups",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Presentation",
  "event_id": "PP1149073",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Presentation",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "The Fundraising Playbook: What Founders Need to Know to Raise, Build, and Win in 2026",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2026-02-05T21:05:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1149073",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-14",
  "end_time": "2026-03-14T15:30:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-14T14:30:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 31732,
      "company": "Mercury Fund",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2054803,
      "name": "Heath Butler",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Partner",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Heath Butler",
        "credit": "",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/QY1yEJ-OOvkpGIm4_Bxd55bQvYk=/225x8:1535x1318/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/3b76d2b4-5caf-48b3-81dd-1875481e54c0/pcid-1107730"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": null,
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 31897,
      "company": "PitchBook",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2055058,
      "name": "Nizar Tarhuni",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Executive Vice President, Research & Market Intelligence",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Nizar Tarhuni",
        "credit": "PitchBook",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/whakfKeYhxOJxJsBbsbwyfLHlEg=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/06c772fd-5316-ad15-70d3-7102b2dfbdbc/pcid-1112062"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Nizar Tarhuni is Executive Vice President of Research and Market Intelligence at PitchBook Data, where he leads the firm’s global Institutional Research and News organizations. He oversees a team of more than 140 analysts and journalists worldwide delivering on investment strategy, fund performance, industry, and credit research, alongside a daily news product tailored to private market investors and advisors.\r\rUnder Tarhuni’s leadership, the department has built a comprehensive quantitative research function responsible for developing a robust suite of performance measurement, risk, and predictive analytics tools. These capabilities include a broad portfolio of investable indexes and fund benchmarks, portfolio forecasting models, liquidity and risk assessments, and performance forecasting tools that support institutional decision-making across private markets.\r\rTarhuni is credited with developing PitchBook’s first institutional-grade research product and has played a key role in expanding the firm’s research and news capabilities, including leading the acquisition of Leveraged Commentary & Data (LCD) from S&P. He is also responsible for managing PitchBook’s portfolio management software business, Lumonic, which the firm acquired in 2025.\r\rAs a member of PitchBook’s executive leadership team, Tarhuni leads the company’s market intelligence efforts, monitoring the competitive landscape, identifying strategic growth opportunities, and partnering across the leadership team on investment initiatives.\r\rTarhuni received a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from Linfield University",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "3",
    "id": "V0453",
    "indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
    "mixhalo_url": "https://translate.mixhalo.rocks/430?venue_id=430&partner=true",
    "name": "Salon C",
    "parent_id": "V0403",
    "parent_venue_name": "JW Marriott",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "110 E 2nd St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2645713,
        -97.743198
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "JW Marriott"
    },
    "root": {
      "id": "V0403",
      "name": "JW Marriott",
      "mixhalo_url": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "In today’s market, the challenge isn’t finding opportunities, it’s finding signal in the noise. Join Nizar Tarhuni, EVP of Research & Market Intelligence at PitchBook, and Heath Butler, Partner at Mercury Fund, for a data-driven conversation on where capital is flowing in 2026, the signals investors care about most, how AI is reshaping sourcing and diligence, and what current dynamics mean for fundraising and valuation strategy. Founders will gain a clear view into how investors are making decisions—and how to position their companies to stand out and get funded.",
  "experience_level": "Intermediate",
  "audio_url": null,
  "accessibility": [
    "Closed captioned"
  ],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "after_midnight": null,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": false,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "captioned_qa": false,
  "closed_captioned": true,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "event_status": "none",
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "In today’s market, the challenge isn’t finding opportunities, it’s finding signal in the noise. Join Nizar Tarhuni, EVP of Research & Market Intelligence at PitchBook, and Heath Butler, Partner at Mercury Fund, for a data-driven conversation on where capital is flowing in 2026, the signals investors care about most, how AI is reshaping sourcing and diligence, and what current dynamics mean for fundraising and valuation strategy. Founders will gain a clear view into how investors are making decisions—and how to position their companies to stand out and get funded.",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": false,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "FUNDRAISING PLAYBOOK: WHAT FOUNDERS NEED TO KNOW TO RAISE, BUILD, AND WIN IN 2026",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 954,
      "name": "Entrepreneurship",
      "created_at": "2016-11-04T11:44:27.960-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-01-21T12:10:03.602-06:00",
      "sort": "ENTREPRENEURSHIP",
      "alpha": "E"
    },
    {
      "id": 2422,
      "name": "Trends",
      "created_at": "2023-03-05T18:53:22.637-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2023-03-05T18:53:22.637-06:00",
      "sort": "TRENDS",
      "alpha": "T"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Startups",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_events": [],
  "related_sales_client": null
}