🦄 DeepCorner

✍️ Notes from the Editors

If you’re wondering what happened to your usual startup-of-the-week content, don’t worry: our scheduled programming will be back next Monday. This week, our team member Kanay is taking a deep dive into DeepTech—and it’ll be part of a larger series we’ll call DeepCorner.

Hope you enjoy it. Let us know what you think in the poll below!

P.S. Last call—we’re bringing together 20 seed to Series A+ founders from our community this Wednesday, Feb 19 for dinner in SF. More events to come if you can’t make it out this time around!

- Ethan and Arek 🦄

The next wave of Unicorns won’t be another SaaS play. The next billion-dollar startups won’t be software companies scaling at breakneck speed. Instead, they’ll be deep-tech pioneers tackling humanity’s biggest challenges—whether in space, energy, biotech, or AI. They’ll be companies that solve the toughest scientific and engineering challenges—where code alone isn’t enough. 

Scientific breakthroughs have always propelled civilization forward, and today, venture capital is catching up.

Welcome to DeepCorner, Unicorner’s deep dive into DeepTech. This new series will explore the frontier of technology—where physics, biology, and engineering intersect with entrepreneurship. Once limited to government-funded labs and defense contractors, DeepTech is becoming a playground for ambitious founders and investors betting on the next great industrial revolution.

As investors expand their portfolios into venture capital, more firms open with more assets under management. Trying to find the edge in another software solution shrinks as the market reaches increased saturation. Looking into differentiation, the one trend that has high potential is DeepTech. Over the last two years, there has been a surge in venture investments in these technical companies. The scientific discoveries of the 60s and 70s are back, this time led by the private market.

🔬 What is Deep Tech?

DeepTech refers to startups developing breakthrough solutions in science and engineering—solving the hardest problems that software alone can’t fix. These ventures demand significant capital and often take years to launch even an MVP, which is why they were historically limited to government and defense contractors. 

Industries like advanced materials, AI/ML, life sciences, robotics, blockchain, or any other that has deep technical necessities are considered DeepTech. Think companies like Boston Dynamics, SpaceX, Anduril, NVIDIA, Neumora Therapeutics, Anthropic, or Ava Labs. Each company is revolutionizing its respective niche, evidencing the technical prowess needed to push boundaries. As the world evolves, the growing need for new solutions is leading to massive innovations that software cannot solve. This begs the question—why?

📈 Why the resurgence?

AI. Chips. Power. War. Manufacturing. All of these have been top of mind in the media for the last couple years. However, what we’re seeing today is the result of investors signing more checks almost a decade ago. As we see different races occurring, investments into dominating market share are soaring now. 

Take SpaceX, for example. There were significant doubts that any private rocket company could reach the scale government expenditure could accomplish. Now, SpaceX has achieved commercial success, along with a host of other companies, such as RocketLabs, Blue Origin, and Sierra Space. Just as the computing industry has been privatized, more and more DeepTech industries are doing the same.

The current state of the world has left a dramatic need for innovative solutions. Over the last decade, healthcare costs have risen, and in a post-pandemic world, there is a need and increased investment in new therapeutics. Global conflict has grown, leading to increased investment in defense technologies external to the government. Even Y Combinator invested in their first defense startup this past year. Alongside defense, nationalist trends have taken root. Andreessen Horowitz established its American Dynamism practice, paving the way for increased investment in domestic industries, all correlated with DeepTech.

DeepTech lays the foundation for pivotal changes in quality of life, proving human ingenuity and creating solutions that propel humankind forward. In an increasingly unsure age, these companies will lead innovation into the next generation, creating tremendous value for everyone.

📖 What to expect from DeepCorner

DeepCorner will be our way of helping you keep up with all these moving parts. Expect profiles of emerging players, breakdowns of cutting-edge breakthroughs, and conversations with the people building the future. The next unicorns won’t be B2B SaaS—they’ll be the companies reshaping the physical world. The opportunity is massive, but only a few will define the future. And, of course, we’ll point out these Unicorns along the way.

Written by Kanay Jay Shah

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