On Wednesday evening at PlayGround International 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 collection has traveled across the globe underneath the auspices of TechCrunch. Steve Case rented a theater in 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: convey collectively people who find themselves engaged on genuinely essential developments in a smaller setting, earlier than everybody else figures out they’re essential.

Considered one of our favourite moments was when, In 2019, Sam Altman instructed a StrictlyVC crowd that OpenAI’s monetization technique was mainly “construct AGI, then ask it easy methods to make cash.” Everybody laughed. He wasn’t joking.

This time we’ve obtained Nicholas Kelez, a particle accelerator physicist who spent 20 years on the Division of Vitality constructing issues that shouldn’t be attainable. Now he’s tackling semiconductor manufacturing’s largest drawback: each superior chip depends upon $400 million machines that use lasers just one Dutch firm is aware of easy methods to make. (Extra galling to some: People invented the expertise, then bought it to Europe.) Kelez is constructing the subsequent technology in America utilizing particle accelerator tech. It’s as nerdy because it sounds but in addition exceedingly essential on this second. There may be additionally rising competitors chasing after the same prize.

Then there’s Mina Fahmi, who’s made a hoop that captures your whispered ideas and turns them into text. 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’t attempting to be your pal — 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 properly be onto one thing. (Schneider is a companion at True Ventures, whose different {hardware} bets have included Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit; he’s additionally coming to Palo Alto subsequent week.)

We have now Max Hodak — Science Corp founder, Time journal cover subject, and, earlier, Neuralink cofounder — who has already restored imaginative and prescient to dozens of blind folks 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 folks can management gadgets with their ideas. And that’s simply the tip of the iceberg, as Hodak views it. In truth, he thinks 2035 goes to look wildly completely different from at present, and he’s blissful to share how.

Lastly, we’re thrilled to welcome Chi-Hua Chien and Elizabeth Weil, two VCs who’ve 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 network 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.

PlayGround International is internet hosting, together with common companion Pat Gelsinger, the previous CEO of Intel. There might be drinks, scrumptious meals, and merriment; seating is proscribed, so if you wish to come, act fast.

If you wish to companion with the collection in 2026, get in contact.