Tonight at Playground Global in Palo Alto, some of Silicon Valley's most secretive deep tech builders will break their silence. The final StrictlyVC event of 2025 promises candid insights from innovators working on semiconductor manufacturing breakthroughs, brain-computer interfaces, and next-gen hardware that could reshape 2035.
The tech world's most exclusive networking event is happening tonight, and it's bringing together the kind of deep tech pioneers who usually work in stealth mode. StrictlyVC, the invite-only series that famously heard Sam Altman joke about OpenAI's monetization strategy in 2019 ("build AGI, then ask it how to make money"), is closing out 2025 with its most ambitious lineup yet.
The event, hosted at Playground Global with former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, represents everything Silicon Valley claims to be but rarely delivers: genuine breakthrough technology discussed before the hype cycles kick in. Since TechCrunch acquired StrictlyVC in 2023, the series has traveled globally, from Washington D.C. theaters to Athens government buildings, always maintaining the same premise: catch important developments before everyone else figures out they're important.
Tonight's star attraction is Nicholas Kelez, a particle accelerator physicist who spent two decades at the Department of Energy building what most would consider impossible. Now he's tackling semiconductor manufacturing's $400 million problem. Every advanced chip depends on extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that only one Dutch company, ASML, knows how to manufacture. The irony stings American technologists: Americans invented EUV technology, then sold it to Europe. Kelez is building the next generation using particle accelerator techniques, creating American competition in a market where other startups are also chasing the same prize.
The hardware innovation doesn't stop there. Mina Fahmi, whose company Sandbar just emerged from stealth, has created the Stream Ring - a device that captures whispered thoughts and converts them to text. Before dismissing this as another wearable gimmick, consider that Fahmi and co-founder Kirak Hong spent years at developing similar technology after their previous company was acquired. Backed by Toni Schneider, the operator who scaled WordPress and now partners at (whose hardware portfolio includes Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit), the Stream Ring aims to extend human cognition rather than replace social interaction.