Tomorrow night, at PlayGround World in Palo Alto, some very good people who find themselves constructing stuff you don’t perceive but will clarify what’s coming. That is the ultimate StrictlyVC occasion of 2025, and actually, the lineup is ridiculous.
The sequence has traveled across the globe below the auspices of TechCrunch. Steve Case rented a theater in Washington, D.C.; we talked to Greece’s prime minister in Athens; and Kirsten Inexperienced hosted us on the Presidio in San Francisco. The idea is at all times the identical, although: deliver collectively people who find themselves engaged on genuinely vital developments in a smaller setting, earlier than everybody else figures out they’re vital.
One in every of our favourite moments was when, in 2019, Sam Altman informed a StrictlyVC crowd that OpenAI’s monetization technique was mainly “build AGI, then ask it how to make money.” Everybody laughed. He wasn’t joking.
This time, we’ve acquired Nicholas Kelez, a particle accelerator physicist who spent 20 years on the Division of Vitality constructing issues that shouldn’t be potential. Now he’s tackling semiconductor manufacturing’s greatest downside: Each superior chip is dependent upon $400 million machines that use lasers, just one Dutch firm is aware of tips on how to make. (Extra galling to some: Individuals invented the expertise, then offered it to Europe.) Kelez is constructing the following era in America utilizing particle accelerator tech. It’s as nerdy because it sounds but additionally exceedingly vital on this second. There’s additionally rising competitors chasing after the identical prize.
Then there’s Mina Fahmi, who’s made a hoop that captures your whispered ideas and turns them into textual content. Earlier than you roll your eyes, know that he and co-founder Kirak Hong spent years at Meta engaged on these items after their firm was acquired. The Stream Ring isn’t attempting to be your good friend — it’s attempting to increase your mind. Backed by Toni Schneider, an operator who scaled WordPress in its earlier days, Sandbar simply emerged from stealth and would possibly nicely be onto one thing. (Schneider is a accomplice at True Ventures, whose different {hardware} bets have included Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit; he’s additionally coming to Palo Alto subsequent week.)
We now have Max Hodak — Science Corp founder, Time journal cowl topic, and, earlier, Neuralink co-founder (together with Elon Musk) — who has already restored imaginative and prescient to dozens of blind individuals with retinal implants. Now he’s engaged on “biohybrid” brain-computer interfaces the place chips seeded with stem cells develop into your mind tissue so paralyzed individuals can management gadgets with their ideas. And that’s simply the tip of the iceberg, as Hodak views it. The truth is, he thinks 2035 goes to look wildly totally different from at present, and he’s joyful to share how.
Lastly, we’re thrilled to welcome Chi-Hua Chien of Goodwater Capital and Elizabeth Weil of Scribble Ventures, two VCs who’ve backed Twitter, Spotify, TikTok, Slack, SpaceX, Figma, and Coinbase earlier than they had been family names. Chien runs Goodwater Capital; Weil based Scribble Ventures after stints at Andreessen Horowitz and Twitter, made 100+ angel investments, and has a primary fund exhibiting 4x returns. (Her community is so good that it’s annoying.) Each suppose Silicon Valley is totally misreading the second whereas everybody pours capital into enterprise AI, they usually’ll clarify why.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
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October 13-15, 2026
PlayGround World is internet hosting, together with normal accomplice Pat Gelsinger, the previous CEO of Intel. There can be drinks, scrumptious meals, and merriment; seating is proscribed, so if you wish to get candid insights immediately from these VC and tech heavyhitters, and make significant connections, then register to your seat earlier than it’s gone. StrictlyVC occasions have restricted seating.
If you wish to accomplice with the sequence in 2026, get in contact right here.
