Last Week in Deeptech - 13/06/2023
Welcome to the Deepsight weekly newsletter, where we run through last week's notable events in the world of deeptech.
Last Week in News:
UK to host the first major AI summit of ‘like-minded’ countries (Politico)
Microsoft to move top AI experts from China to new lab in Canada (Financial Times)
Meta previews AI tools coming to WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram (Techcrunch)
German finance minister rules out extra funds for Intel chip plant (Financial Times)
TL;DR - Venture Markets:
60 deeptech ventures collectively raised $2,635mn from investors.
2 VC funds announced closure, raising a total of $1,900mn from LPs.
3 companies achieved exits, creating $2,702mn in value for shareholders (disclosed).
Featured Insights:
The 15 fastest-growing university spinouts in Europe (Sifted)
How Einstein's old stomping ground became Europe's spinout capital (Sifted)
Exploring quantum networks: An overview of how they function (The Quantum Insider)
What’s being built in generative AI today? (Techcrunch)
Will generative AI boost productivity? (Financial Times)
Tech Breakthroughs & Partnerships:
Brain electrodes designed to mimic the hippocampus appear to restore memories - and are also twice as effective in people with poor memory (MIT Technology Review).
OneWeb and Hughes partner on LEO connectivity for in-flight WiFi (Payload)
Google DeepMind’s game-playing AI just found another way to make code faster - sorting list items up to 70% faster than existing methods (MIT Technology Review)
A powerful microscope called MINFLUX can capture motor proteins in unprecedented detail allowing researchers to track molecules under cellular conditions (Nature)
Our Top 10 Funding Picks:
Magrathea has raised $10mn in seed funding for its first magnesium metal pilot plant.
AI-driven collaborative sensing solutions startup MatrixSpace raised a $10mn Series A.
King’s College spinout Hypervision raised a £6.5mn seed round to make surgery safer.
Sam Altman has backed UK-based alternative meat startup Uncommon as part of their $30mn Series A, alongside VCs like Lowercarbon Capital and Balderton Capital.
Charm Industrial raised $100m in Series B funding from the likes of General Catalyst, Lowercarbon Capital and more on the heels of delivering 6,200tons of carbon removal.
Quantum tech startup Haiqu has raised $4mn to boost adoption of quantum computing.
Ecovative, the world's leader mycelium technology, announced the closing of a $30mn Series E scale its Forager business into a world-class supplier of sustainable textiles.
Oxford University spinout Oxccu has completed their $22.7mn Series A funding round, led by Clean Energy Ventures, to bring their sustainable aviation fuel to market.
About:Energy secured $1.9mn seed funding to position the UK as a battery data leader.
Blockchain-based, AI compute protocol Gensyn closed a $43mn Series A led by a16z.
See the full list here.
Announced VC Fund Closes:
London-based IQ Capital has announced that they have closed $400mn across 2 funds to invest in ‘deep tech’ AI and robotics startups (Read the City AM coverage here)
Just Climate (established by Generation IM) has closed their inaugural industrial climate solutions fund raising $1.5bn in institutional capital (press release here)
Champagne-Worthy Exits (M&A & IPOs):
Clean energy company NET Power has completed its SPAC merger with Rice Aquisition Corp at a market capitalization of $1.bn, raising $670mn in the process.
Gurnet Point and Novo Holdings co-acquired Paratek Pharmaceuticals for $462mn.
Adaptimmune announced the completion of its merger with TCR2 Therapeutics in an all stock deal, bolstering both their efforts to deliver T-cell therapies for solid tumours.
Firefly Aerospace announced it has acquired Spaceflight Inc, a space services and transportation company, in an undisclosed deal to build its on-orbit service offerings.
Key Hires and People Movements:
Following the removal of now former chairman John Thompson, Illumina CEO Francis deSouza is now also departing, with Charles Dadswell being named as interim CEO.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the selection of Iris Lan as the agency’s new general counsel, succeeding Sumara Thompson-King, who retired in December.
Quantum computing pioneer and Rigetti Computing founder Chad Rigetti has joined QDNL Participations as a Venture Partner (Quantum Insider coverage here).
Policy & Government Initiatives:
First up, the European Commission has announced an €8.1bn ($8.7bn) project to support research, innovation and the first industrial deployment of microelectronics and communication technologies on the continent (Quantum Insider covered the announcement here).
However, in a leaked document, it is said that the European Investment Fund (EIF) is looking to set up a measly €200mn fund ($215mn) for European defence technologies (Sifted got the scoop on the leak in this article), drawing widespread criticism from the defence community.
On the topic of defence tech, The White House recently published new details of Russia-Iran military drone cooperation for use in Ukraine. As explained in the Financial Times: “The information is part of a steady stream of declassified intelligence about military ties between Moscow and Tehran, as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine and starve him of military hardware.”
In non-Russian war news, Russian officials announced that the first cohort of Russian Orbital Station cosmonauts will be selected by next year (Coverage by the Russian News Agency). This comes as the ISS is set to deorbit by the end of the decade, and so Russia has proposed building its own sovereign LEO station, similar to China’s proposed Tiangong base.
That’s all for this week!
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If you have any feedback - or want to see more of something covered in the newsletter - please do contact me via email: dan@deepsight.news.
Thanks for reading!
Dan