As venture funding poured into nearly every sector last year from enterprise software to delivery apps, some investors started to take a deep and hard

Deep Tech Funding Slows As ‘Tourist’ Investors Retreat

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2022-09-23 16:30:29

As venture funding poured into nearly every sector last year from enterprise software to delivery apps, some investors started to take a deep and hard look at just that—deep, or hard, tech.

However, as venture investment continues its substantial pullback, the money that flowed into the area—known for things like quantum computing, robotics and space tech—in the past few years has started to dwindle.

“I think there were a lot of funds looking for outside returns,” said Avidan Ross, founding partner of Root Ventures, a deep tech early-stage firm with nearly 80 investments. “There were a lot of people chasing [investments] last year.”

Those who specialize in deep tech—also called “frontier” and “hard tech”—say there has been a leveling out of investors looking into areas that still can be years, if not decades, from market.

“This is just a tighter period,” said Peter Hebert, co-founder and managing partner at New York-based Lux Capital, which closed nearly $1.5 billion worth of funds last year to invest in deep tech.