Tonight, at Playground Global in Palo Alto, some very smart people who are making things you don’t understand yet will explain what’s going to happen. this is Final StrictlyVC event of 2025And really, the lineup is ridiculous.
The series has traveled around the world auspices TechCrunch’s: Steve Case rents a theater in Washington, DC; We spoke to the Prime Minister of Greece in Athens; And Kirsten Green hosted us at the Presidio in San Francisco. However, the concept is always the same: bring together people who are working on really important developments in a small setting, before everyone else realizes they are important.
One of our favorite moments was when, in 2019, Sam Altman told the StrictlyVC crowd that OpenAI’s monetization strategy was basically “build AGI, then ask it how to make money.” Everyone laughed. He was not joking.
This time, we’ve got nicholas kelesA particle accelerator physicist who spent 20 years at the Department of Energy creating things that shouldn’t be possible. Now he’s tackling semiconductor manufacturing’s biggest problem: Each advanced chip depends on $400 million machines that use lasers only one Dutch company knows how to make. (More disappointing for some: Americans invented the technology, then sold it to Europe.) The Kelleys are building the next generation in the US using particle accelerator technology. As trite as it sounds, it is extremely important in this moment. Competition is also increasing chasing the same prize,
then there is Meena FahmiWho has created a ring that captures your whispered thoughts and turns them into text. Before you roll your eyes, know that he and co-founder Kirak Hong spent several years working on this thing at Meta after their company was acquired. The Stream Ring isn’t trying to be your friend – it’s trying to expand your brain. Backed by Tony Schneider, an operator who pioneered WordPress in its early days, Sandbar has just emerged from stealth and might be on to something. (Schneider is a partner at True Ventures, whose other hardware bets include Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit; he’s also coming to Palo Alto tonight.)
we have max hodak – Founder of Science Corporation, Time Magazine cover topicAnd, before that, co-founder (with Elon Musk) of Neuralink – who has already restored the vision of dozens of blind people with retina implants. He is now working on “biohybrid” brain-computer interfaces, where chips containing stem cells are grown in your brain tissue so that paralyzed people can control devices with their thoughts. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as Hodak sees it. In fact, he believes 2035 is going to look completely different from today and he’s happy to tell you how.
Finally, we are thrilled to welcome chi-hua chien Goodwater Capital and elizabeth weil of Scribble Ventures, two VCs who have backed Twitter, Spotify, TikTok, Slack, SpaceX, Figma, and Coinbase before becoming household names. Chien runs Goodwater Capital; After working at Andreessen Horowitz and Twitter, Weil founded Scribble Ventures, made 100+ angel investments and created the first fund to show 4x returns. (His network is so good it’s annoying.) Both think Silicon Valley is completely misjudging the moment everyone is pouring capital into enterprise AI, and they’ll explain why.
techcrunch event
san francisco
,
October 13-15, 2026
Playground Global is hosting with general partner Pat GelsingerFormer CEO of Intel. There will be drinks, delicious food and merriment; Seating is limited, so if you want to get candid insights and make meaningful connections directly from these VCs and tech heavy hitters, Register for your seat before it’s goneThere is limited seating at StrictlyVC events,
If you would like to become a participant in the series in 2026, get in touch here.
