Series D nuclear unicorn; Ag autonomy seed-to-pre-IPO; Biotech lands nine-figure rounds as AI governance & Cyber verification trade like utilities | Deep Tech Capital Movements n.51
The Week’s State of Deep Tech Capital: who’s Raising, who’s Betting, and why.
If you Build or Back Deep Tech, you can’t afford not to know where capital moves. Deep Tech Capital Movements is your weekly, global read on who got funded, which funds wrote the checks, and what that means for your next investment, raise, or strategic move.
In this week’s issue, you’ll:
See how capital from pre-seed through late-stage and structured vehicles concentrated around microreactors and distributed energy, ag autonomy and food systems, AI-native security/governance, and multi-program biotech platforms.
Understand the rounds that actually move the frontier – from 1–20 MW factory-built microreactors, home-energy subscriptions, and EV-to-grid storage to non-viral CAR-T, surfaceome-targeted ADCs, and degrader–antibody conjugates – and what they imply for timing, moat depth, and capital requirements into the late-2020s.
Get a clean snapshot of the funds and vehicles behind them, from Nordic spinout funds, Japanese early-stage software and deeptech funds, and India-focused deeptech growth capital to $9B+ multi-strategy VC platforms and project-finance vehicles for EV batteries and rooftop-solar portfolios.
This week at a glance:
59 items tracked: 49 startup and transaction rounds + 10 funds & vehicles.
By stage: activity skewed to pre-seed, seed, and Series A across ag autonomy, robotics, AI-native cybersecurity and governance, fermentation-based food and industrial bio, and materials discovery – with late-stage and structured capital concentrating in nuclear microreactors, oncology platforms, AI-native SRE and benefits infrastructure, embedded and silicon-level security, and residential/grid-scale energy assets.
By theme:
Energy, climate & infrastructure: 1–20 MW microreactors, compact steel-encased PWRs, facilitated-transport membranes for petrochem and CO₂, RF-based grid fault detection, small modular wind, brewery waste-to-energy bioreactors, hyperlocal air and flood sensing, subscription home-energy bundles, EV-to-grid storage built from second-life packs, and methane-reducing or protein-upcycling feed systems.
Biotech, health & industrial bio: generative antibody “CAD” suites, surfaceome discovery engines for ADCs and T-cell engagers, non-viral CAR-T, degrader–antibody conjugates, glycan-based ageing and “inflammaging” diagnostics, microfluidic IVF devices, nanoparticle-guided cancer surgery, cell-free biomanufacturing for personal care, and AI- and automation-driven materials discovery for battery chemistries.
Compute, AI & security: embedded firmware security at billion-device scale, AI-native cyber-exposure platforms, AI verification and governance for enterprise use, silicon-level trusted control units, autonomous SRE for production systems, on-device personal assistants, agentic hardware-design environments, nanostructured thermal interface materials, and AI-native stacks for communications and global benefits.
Ag, food & autonomy: tractor autonomy kits and safe-geofencing systems, robotic pest control and ag robots, insect-protein and AMP-fortified feed, seaweed-derived methane-cutting additives, fermentation-based fats and flavor ingredients, AI meat grading and food-safety platforms, micromobility battery swapping, and autonomous hull-cleaning robotics.
By geography:
North America: largest checks in nuclear microreactors, EV-to-grid storage and ag/food infrastructure, AI-native SRE and comms stacks, nanostructured TIMs and silicon security, and generative antibody and DAC oncology platforms.
Europe (incl. UK & Nordics): strength in embedded/AI-native cyber, distributed wind and waste-to-energy, sustainable polymers and food ingredients, fertility and IVF technologies, longevity diagnostics, maritime robotics, and semiconductor and deeptech spinout funds.
Asia & Middle East/Africa: dense activity in ag autonomy, EV and two-wheeler platforms, insect protein, materials discovery, cloud-lab infrastructure, and space-based missile defense, backed by India- and Japan-focused deeptech vehicles and MEA-linked diagnostics and lab scale-up.
Australia & Oceania / Canada: targeted bets in grid and wildfire risk detection, meat grading and food safety, oncology-surgery imaging, and livestock-feed logistics, with Latin America notably absent from this week’s deeptech capital flows.
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