There is a hot debate these days in the European startup ecosystem about deep-tech investment. The EU innovation policy, today led by the efforts done by EIT (European Institute of technology) and EIC (European Innovation Council), is clearly much more focused on tech-driven science-based innovation than on market-driven entrepreneurship.
Some professional investors have criticised this approach asking for stronger public funding for business model and digital innovations, arguing that most of the market value created in the US and Asia as well as most unicorns have not been created by tech push projects stemming from research players.
Aiming to have a better view of the key players, we have identified some of the key deeptech investors in Europe. Our analysis has taken into account venture capital firms and corporate investors who are especially active in deep tech with a especial focus on deep tech for sustainability (cleantech area).
Taking into account the locations in which they operate (represented on the x-axis) and the round stage in which they invest, the diagram shows how most investment is located in the top right quadrant, corresponding to large investors operating globally in medium to late stage startups. Correspondingly, deep-tech startups/projects might find especially difficult to raise seed funding if they do not have an ambitions global project that can get the attention of global funds.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
