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On Wednesday night<\/a> at PlayGround International in Palo Alto, some very good people who find themselves constructing stuff you don\u2019t perceive but will clarify what\u2019s coming. That is the ultimate StrictlyVC occasion of 2025, and really, the lineup is ridiculous.<\/p>\n The sequence has traveled across the globe underneath the auspices<\/a> of TechCrunch. Steve Case rented a theater in D.C.; we talked to Greece\u2019s prime minister in Athens;<\/strong> and Kirsten Inexperienced hosted us on the Presidio in San Francisco. The idea is all the time the identical, although: carry collectively people who find themselves engaged on genuinely vital developments in a smaller setting, earlier than everybody else figures out they\u2019re vital.<\/p>\n Considered one of our favourite moments was when, In 2019, Sam Altman informed a StrictlyVC crowd that OpenAI\u2019s monetization technique was principally \u201cconstruct AGI, then ask it learn how to become profitable.\u201d Everybody laughed. He wasn\u2019t joking<\/a>.<\/p>\n This time we\u2019ve bought Nicholas Kelez, a particle accelerator physicist who spent 20 years on the Division of Power constructing issues that shouldn\u2019t be attainable. Now he\u2019s tackling semiconductor manufacturing\u2019s largest drawback: each superior chip will depend on $400 million machines that use lasers just one Dutch firm is aware of learn how to make. (Extra galling to some: Individuals invented the expertise, then bought it to Europe.) Kelez is constructing the subsequent technology in America utilizing particle accelerator tech. It\u2019s as nerdy because it sounds but additionally exceedingly vital on this second. There’s additionally rising competitors chasing after the identical prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Mina Fahmi, who\u2019s made a hoop that captures your whispered ideas and turns them into textual content<\/a>. Earlier than you roll your eyes, know that he and cofounder Kirak Hong spent years at Meta engaged on these things after their firm was acquired. The Stream Ring isn\u2019t making an attempt to be your pal \u2014 it\u2019s making an attempt 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 properly be onto one thing. (Schneider is a associate at True Ventures, whose different {hardware} bets have included Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit; he\u2019s additionally coming to Palo Alto subsequent week.)<\/p>\n We’ve got Max Hodak \u2014 Science Corp founder, Time journal cowl topic<\/a>, and, earlier, Neuralink cofounder \u2014 who has already restored imaginative and prescient to dozens of blind individuals with retinal implants. Now he\u2019s engaged on \u201cbiohybrid\u201d brain-computer interfaces the place chips seeded with stem cells develop into your mind tissue so paralyzed individuals can management units with their ideas. And that\u2019s simply the tip of the iceberg, as Hodak views it. In actual fact, he thinks 2035 goes to look wildly totally different from at this time, and he\u2019s comfortable to share how.<\/p>\n Lastly, we\u2019re thrilled to welcome Chi-Hua Chien and Elizabeth Weil, two VCs who\u2019ve backed Twitter, Spotify, TikTok, Slack, SpaceX, Figma, and Coinbase earlier than they have 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<\/a> is so good that it\u2019s annoying.) Each assume Silicon Valley is totally misreading the second whereas everybody pours capital into enterprise AI, they usually\u2019ll clarify why. <\/p>\n Techcrunch occasion<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n