Deep tech startups

Deep tech refers to technology ventures built on scientific breakthroughs and advanced engineering, rather than incremental software tweaks. Unlike “shallow” tech startups (e.g. mobile apps), deep tech companies spend years in R&D and invest heavy capital to solve fundamental problems in fields like AI, biotech, materials science, robotics and photonics. 

These startups aim to unlock new capabilities, from curing diseases and reversing extinction, to enabling sustainable energy and quantum computing, with the promise to transform entire industries. For investors, deep tech represents an emerging asset class with outsized opportunities. 

Deep tech startups command an ever-growing share of venture funding (around 20% of VC dollars today) and have delivered returns comparable to top-tier tech funds. By tackling urgent global challenges, deep tech promises both massive impact and attractive financial upside. 

The sections below highlight some of the major industries ripe for deep tech innovation and representative companies that are well poised to make a major impact in that area.

AI computer hardware

The advancements in Gen AI have resulted in parallel advancements in custom hardware that is required to train and run AI computing. AI hardware startups are designing next-generation chips that can dramatically accelerate machine learning and adapt to this evolving need. 

Tenstorrent (a Canadian‐U.S. startup founded by chip architect Jim Keller) is a leading example. Its Tensix AI processor is optimized for deep learning workloads and claims 50–100× efficiency gains for neural network training and inference over current GPUs. By using scalable array architectures, Tenstorrent aims to handle the exploding compute demands of advanced AI, from large language models to real-time robotics. 

Alongside competitors like Graphcore and Cerebras, Tenstorrent is positioning itself at the hardware frontier of deep tech, making the high-cost, power-hungry task of AI much more efficient. For investors, backing AI hardware startups means betting on the infrastructure of the AI revolution.

Advanced genetic technology

Biotech and genetic engineering are quintessential deep tech: solutions here require cutting-edge lab research with long timelines. Colossal Biosciences (Dallas, TX) is a prime example of a deep biotech startup aiming for audacious goals. Co-founded by geneticist George Church in 2021, Colossal aims to use advanced CRISPR gene-editing and synthetic biology to de-extinct animals like the woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger. 

The company’s platform records DNA at unprecedented scale, letting it edit genomes with single-gene precision. Colossal’s vision is twofold: restore lost biodiversity, and apply its breakthrough gene technologies to conservation (e.g. saving the northern white rhino). 

Such projects exemplify how deep genetic tech can rewrite biology itself, a massive expansion of what life sciences startups can do. Beyond de-extinction, the same technology can enable new therapies (from personalized cures to synthetic biofuels) that tackle challenges like health, food, and climate. For deep tech investors, companies like Colossal illustrate the frontier of biotechnology: solving large-scale problems (extinction and ecosystem collapse) with heavy-science innovation.

Advanced materials and nanotechnology

Advanced materials (often on the nano-scale) underpin breakthroughs in clean energy, electronics and more. Northvolt (Sweden) shows how material deep tech can reshape industries. Northvolt is building gigafactories to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage using almost entirely clean energy. Its goal is to supply gigawatt-hours of low-carbon batteries, cutting both cost and carbon footprint. 

Northvolt’s mission is to deliver batteries with a 90% lower carbon footprint than conventional cells by powering its factories with hydro and wind power. It secured multi-billion-dollar investments (and even government backing) to scale up Europe’s first homegrown battery gigafactory. These factories use advanced materials science and automation (e.g. novel cathodes and recycling processes) to make batteries more sustainable. For investors, Northvolt represents a classic deep tech play: solving a global problem (fossil fuel dependence and emissions) by inventing at the material level. Supporting such materials startups means banking on the electrification of transport and the power grid, and on technologies like solid-state batteries that could power the future.

Brain-computer interfaces

Paradromics (Austin, TX) is redefining how humans experience the world by merging mind and technology. Its flagship device, the Connexus® Brain-Computer Interface, delivers exceptional access to the brain, providing the high data throughput needed to restore communication for people who have lost the ability to speak.

Building on medical BCI breakthroughs, Paradromics is expanding its platform capabilities and advancing toward the future of human-computer integration. Such technologies that are designed to decode speech today could one day enable direct brain-to-brain conversation, while BCIs that allow a paralyzed person to control a robotic arm could evolve to give humans embodied command over humanoid robots.

Looking ahead, Paradromics is developing the foundation for a new era of cognition and communication. The vision includes BCI-driven AR and VR experiences indistinguishable from reality, and ultimately, a seamless interface between human thought and artificial general intelligence.

For deep tech investors, Paradromics represents the frontier of science and engineering-intensive innovation. The company’s high-bandwidth neural platform bridges neuroscience, microelectronics, and AI, translating decades of research into commercial neurotechnology. Its work demonstrates how deep tech can address major societal needs, such as restoring communication and expanding human capability, while laying the groundwork for entirely new markets at the intersection of medicine and human augmentation.

Quantum computing and photonics

Quantum computing is a quintessential deep tech frontier. PsiQuantum (Palo Alto, CA) is a top startup in this area, pursuing a photonics-based quantum computer. Unlike mainstream superconducting qubits, PsiQuantum’s approach uses light particles (photons) on silicon chips to perform quantum calculations. 

In early 2025 PsiQuantum announced a major breakthrough: it solved a long-standing manufacturing challenge by adapting semiconductor photonics processes. Its “Omega” chipset is now being mass-produced at GlobalFoundries’ fabs with industry-standard yields. In other words, PsiQuantum can now make millions of integrated photonic quantum chips on 300mm wafers, a feat that brings commercial quantum hardware much closer to reality. 

The startup is aiming for a working quantum computer by 2027. Photonic qubits have advantages, they operate at room temperature and scale more easily, making PsiQuantum’s vision very attractive. For investors, PsiQuantum highlights how deep tech startups leverage physics and advanced manufacturing: its chips could one day tackle calculations beyond even the best classical supercomputers, revolutionizing cryptography, materials science, and drug discovery.

Robotics and manufacturing

The robotics industry has been transformed by AI-driven deep tech. Covariant (Emeryville, CA) is a leading AI robotics startup, developing the Covariant Brain and commercial Robotics Foundation Models (RFM-1) for warehouse and factory automation. By training on billions of sensor and vision data points from real warehouses, Covariant’s AI enables robot arms to perform complex tasks (like picking and sorting mixed items) that traditionally required humans. 

Its systems already match or exceed human speeds in bin-picking and order fulfillment. In March 2024 Covariant announced RFM-1, an AI model that gives robots human-like reasoning in physical environments. And customers like logistics and ecommerce companies are adopting Covariant’s solutions to automate manual warehouses. 

This exemplifies deep tech in manufacturing: combining AI, computer vision and robotics hardware to revolutionize supply chains. For investors, Covariant is an example of deep tech bringing capital-A Ambition to industrial problems, automating trillions of items in global warehouses with autonomous machines backed by VC funding (the company raised over $200M). The broader lesson is that robotics startups can tap AI advances to drive huge efficiency gains in manufacturing and logistics.

Investing in deep tech: A vision for the future

Deep tech companies share three traits: they tackle fundamental challenges, require long development cycles, and often need large capital. These same qualities mean high potential impact. As one Boston Consulting Group report notes, deep tech startups are making bigger bets on big problems (climate change, health, food, security), with many funding rounds exceeding $100 million or even becoming unicorns. 

The deep tech asset class now commands a substantial and growing piece of the venture pie. For sophisticated investors looking to diversify beyond software, deep tech offers an opportunity to fund the next industrial revolution. Each industry example above, from AI hardware, genomics, materials, quantum, robotics, and neural interfaces, illustrates a trend: visionary startups are racing to pioneer uncharted territory. The combined effect could be transformative. Imagine a future where batteries are carbon-free, AI robots run our supply chains, brains interface seamlessly with computers, and quantum machines solve problems today unsolvable.

In this landscape, investing in deep tech means investing in breakthroughs that change how we live and work. While the road is longer and the science complex, early investors stand to gain both financial returns and the pride of backing technologies that address humanity’s biggest challenges. 

By focusing on credible deep tech startups, investors can support world-changing innovation. As deep tech continues to mature, those who understand its promise will be best positioned to capitalize on its gains.

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