[CONFIDENTIAL]
Deep Future is a $36MM U.S. venture fund backing deep technology startups at inception to solve the biggest problems in the world – founders attracted by our own reputations & experience implementing science fiction.
Problem
8 billion humans can survive on the progress we’ve made so far, but we need to solve sanitation, clean water, food, education, infectious disease & energy for them to thrive.
At the same time – geopolitical, environmental & societal forces are converging to rapidly obsolete the way we’ve been doing things.
These problems aren’t going to be solved with iPhone apps, we must invent new tools for the arsenal.
Solution
Every new scientific discovery is a chance to ask ourselves, “does this change anything we do?” Can we now do something faster, cheaper, better, or in a way that is more humane? Sometimes the answer is yes, and that is the moment of invention.
A lot of work is needed from that moment on, to develop a new technology that can be a force multiplier, enabling humans to solve problems at a larger scale.
We support & fund founders to begin doing this work.
Portfolio
Deep Tech is the hard stuff, technical & complex but fundamental & powerful. These are companies we have already invested in:
Ladon Robotics – Autonomous Sailing Cargo Ships
Automated transoceanic shipping vessels that don’t burn fuel. Zero emissions, zero fuel cost.
Descycle – Sustainable Precious Metal Extraction
Patented tech to mine gold from electronics waste. Yields 30x higher than mining.
Risc0 – Blockchain Virtual Machine
First exoscale decentralized computing platform uses zero knowledge proofs to obsolete other blockchains.
Virtus Solis – Space Based Solar Power
Solar panels where the sun never stops shining will be the lowest cost base load energy source.
CreateMe – Automated Apparel Manufacturing
Think Henry Ford meets Tom Ford, but tricked out with robotics and cloud computing.
Stealth Mode Startup – Electronics Miniaturization
The most valuable real estate in the world is the iPhone motherboard. This frees up square centimeters.
Team
Pablos Holman is a hacker, inventor and technology futurist with a unique ability to distill complex technology into practical tools. Always building the future, his projects include cryptocurrency in the 1990s; AI for stock market trading; building spaceships at Blue Origin for Jeff Bezos; the world’s smallest PC and 3D printers at Makerbot. Pablos helped Nathan Myhrvold start the Intellectual Ventures Lab to do a wide range of invention projects, including a machine to suppress hurricanes; a nuclear reactor powered by nuclear waste; and a machine that can shoot mosquitoes out of the sky with lasers – an impact invention project to eradicate malaria with Bill Gates. His team received over 6000 patents.
Michael Reid is a neuroscientist & investor. A domain expert in biotech, biological & chemical sciences. With a 10 year track record investing in biotech & technology, Michael has built a global network of investors, managers & commercial partners to support our portfolio companies.
Deal Flow
Deep Future backs mad scientists, rogue inventors, crazy hackers & maverick entrepreneurs implementing science fiction, solving big problems and helping our species become better ancestors.
We are early detection for new technology. The first to find breakthroughs, the first to understand a founder’s vision & the first to fund them.
We attract these founders because we’ve already worked on the kinds of projects they want to do. Pablos is a top public speaker & thought leader whose TED Talks have over 25 million views. Building on this with a podcast, media appearances, new book & speaking tours, we are becoming THE deep tech venture brand that founders know.
Strategy
Deep tech scares most investors because their background is in finance or software. A blind spot for them that is a treasure trove of opportunity for us. Deep tech trades market risk for technical risk. We attack the hardest problems up front and when we succeed, we are often selling into vast industrial markets, not paying for clicks on Facebook.
Even so, this is true venture so we must respect the power law.
We are usually the first check in, investing so early that a lot of failures are inevitable. We offset this by getting a lot of shots on goal. We’ll invest in 100 companies, 99 of them together may merely return the fund, but we expect one hit to go supernova.
Economics
We do not reserve capital for follow-on rounds. For the most successful portfolio companies, we form SPVs to invest in our pro-rata allocation. This gives our LPs the greatest optionality in where to deploy their capital. We do not take a management fee on these SPVs.
Join Us
Too much lip service is paid to “sustainability” or “impact” with projects that won’t move the needle on solving important problems. The technologies we back have the potential to live up to these ambitions.
We attract the companies that are creating these force multipliers. We invest early and help these founders to ensure that we have access to the best deals as they mature.
We are inviting select people to join us as limited partners. If what we are doing interests you, please reach out so we can discuss Deep Future in depth.
Michael Reid – michael@deepfuture.tech
Pablos Holman – pablos@deepfuture.tech
Vision without Action is a Daydream
Action without Vision is a Nightmare