UCLTF’s David Grimm and Tanel Ozdemir share their insights on the deeptech industry and its bright future.
The combined value of European-founded deeptech companies now exceeds $845B, and counting. Since 2010, the percentage of European venture capital being funnelled into deeptech companies has more than doubled, and 2020 saw investments into the sector surpass €10B. This trend is set to continue into 2022, and there is plenty of room for growth in the sector.
Investments in deeptech can be hugely rewarding, but they often require much more patience and a willingness to take different kinds of risks – an investment style that doesn’t suit the vast majority of VCs. However, UCLTF’s work within this industry has revealed a number of insights.
One significant and hugely impactful deeptech trend is the arrival of precision cancer medicine. This is leading to novel treatments that are steadily leaving labs and clinical centres, like those at University College London, and increasingly attracting investment.
There is also a need for solutions to the climate crisis, and the world is finally waking up to the role hydrogen can play in averting a climate disaster. Government analysis suggests as much as 35% of the UK’s energy consumption could be hydrogen-based in the next 20 years. This is an area UCLTF recently invested in with Bramble Energy, and is one in which the startups and technologies being built could have significant impact on the fate of our planet.
We should be excited about the future of deeptech, and investment in this sector is critical to creating the future.
Read the full article in Maddyness.
We make UCL’s research physical and life sciences ideas happen.
