Deep Science Ventures is a venture creator that combines available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures, to build a future where both humans and the planet thrive.
Founders have up to 18 months to form a company and are funded for the full duration.
Funding is to launch the venture.
Deep Science Ventures, founded in 2016, is a London based venture creator applying a "solution-pull" methodology to address global challenges by bridging scientific research and entrepreneurship, prioritising societal outcomes over existing technologies. With £160 million in funding attracted, it has launched 50+ ventures valued at £500 million in climate, agriculture, and health, partnering with institutions like CGIAR and Germany’s SPRIN-D. Its Venture Science Doctorate program trains scientists to translate research into scalable ventures, merging academic rigour with venture building.
Deep Science Ventures' mission is to create a future where humanity and the planet can thrive by combining available scientific knowledge with founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. The organisation operates as a venture creator, taking a systematic approach to addressing the world's most pressing challenges across four critical sectors: pharmaceuticals, climate, agriculture, and computation.
Goals:
Values:
Deep Science Ventures was founded in 2016 to radically rethink how science-based companies are created. Frustrated by the slow, fragmented path from research to real-world impact, DSV set out to proactively build ventures around the world’s most urgent challenges, starting with the outcome in mind rather than waiting for discoveries to emerge. Launching from a borrowed office and with no initial funding, the team iterated on their model, eventually securing backing from angel investors to pilot their approach. By combining scientific expertise with entrepreneurial structure, DSV pioneered a new, outcome-driven model for venture creation, and has since become a leading force in building high-impact companies across pharmaceuticals, climate, agriculture, and computation.
Deep Science Ventures invests in early-stage, science-driven companies built to tackle the world’s most critical challenges in climate, agriculture, computation, and pharmaceuticals. The firm’s focus is on creating and funding ventures from the ground up, leveraging first-principles thinking to design solutions with measurable impact, such as reversing global warming, advancing curative therapeutics, and transforming food systems. DSV co-invests at the spin-out and pre-seed stage, following on at seed in select cases, and targets companies with the potential for both strong financial returns and significant societal or environmental benefits.
Deep Science Ventures operates from its London headquarters while extending its reach through strategic global partnerships that span continents and disciplines. The venture studio's geographic approach is built around collaborative networks rather than traditional expansion, partnering with institutions across 30 countries through initiatives like the CGIAR Alliance, covering Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Their international footprint includes partnerships with Germany's SPRIN-D innovation agency for their Venture Science Doctorate program and alliances with the Global Impact Coalition to tackle chemical sector challenges worldwide. Rather than establishing regional offices, DSV leverages deep scientific partnerships and advisor networks across diverse geographies to identify and develop breakthrough technologies that address humanity's most pressing challenges. By connecting founder-type scientists with global expertise and resources, DSV is creating a worldwide innovation ecosystem where scientific knowledge transcends borders to build ventures with planetary impact.
Deep Science Ventures targets a comprehensive range of sectors within science-driven innovation and sustainability, including:
Agriculture: Technologies that transition agriculture from extractive to regenerative practices, including soil restoration, biodiversity enhancement, sustainable cacao production, agricultural waste utilisation, and bioregional farming systems.
Climate: Innovations focused on optimising degrees of global heating averted, encompassing green hydrogen production from wastewater, industrial heat pump solutions, CO2 utilisation catalysis, carbon removal technologies, and ecosystem-scale engineering approaches.
Computation: Solutions that unlock computational leverage through universal compute fabric, hardware optimisation across diverse processing architectures, low-loss computing systems, and technologies that minimise energy consumption while maximising performance.
Pharma: Advanced therapeutic approaches targeting root causes of diseases rather than symptoms, including gene therapy for genetic conditions like neurofibromatosis, fibrosis treatments, computational medicine, and regenerative therapies that address complex molecular-level damage.
Education: Pioneering career pathways for founder-type scientists through the Venture Science Doctorate program, which combines PhD research with venture creation, addressing the critical talent bottleneck in science commercialisation.
Deep Science Ventures targets outcome-driven scientific innovations addressing existential global challenges, prioritising ventures with measurable impact potential in climate, agriculture, computation, and pharmaceuticals. The firm focuses on neglected sectors where novel intellectual property can disrupt systemic issues, requiring scalable solutions with defensible economics. Investments occur at pre-seed stages in ventures built through DSV’s methodology, emphasising technical founder teams capable of navigating sector-specific barriers. Partnerships with academic and corporate institutions validate technologies, ensuring pathways to adoption while avoiding incremental progress.
Deep Science Ventures employs a structured assessment process focused on founder expertise, technical rigour, and commercial viability to determine investment readiness. Central to their decision-making is identifying entrepreneurially minded scientists with broad sector knowledge and deep domain specialisation in specific opportunity areas. These founders must demonstrate the capacity to deconstruct problems using a first-principles approach, which involves analysing state-of-the-art research, conducting literature reviews, and engaging executives and academics to define optimal technical and commercial pathways. DSV prioritises ventures that address critical gaps in underperforming sectors, as mapped through their proprietary "Outcomes Graph," ensuring alignment with high-impact goals like restorative cultivation or the net-zero transition. Benchmarks include validating the riskiest technical assumptions during pre-incorporation through iterative prototyping and IP integration, culminating in a fully prepared venture at launch. Investments occur only after these rigorous de-risking stages, with DSV co-investing alongside industry leaders upon company incorporation.
Rhizocore: A biotechnology company restoring forest ecosystems by producing locally-adapted mycorrhizal fungi, which enhance tree survival and growth. Rhizocore’s solution accelerates woodland regeneration and carbon sequestration by rebuilding the underground fungal networks essential for healthy forests. Visit Rhizocore.
HyperCIM: A computing hardware startup developing lossless, application-specific compute-in-memory co-processors that reduce power consumption by over 50%. HyperCIM’s technology minimises data movement between CPU and memory, enabling up to 150x improvement in power and performance efficiency. Visit HyperCIM.
Lilliput: An agricultural nanomaterials platform that boosts crop yields by protecting plants from heat stress and harmful radiation. Lilliput’s water soluble, easy-to-apply technology transforms light to safeguard crops, increase water use efficiency, and deliver over 30% yield improvements, helping farms adapt to climate change and achieve high returns on investment. Visit Lilliput.
Thermulon: A climate tech company developing next-generation mineral-based aerogel insulation for buildings, combining exceptional thermal performance with fire safety and affordability. Thermulon’s innovative materials help decarbonise heating by significantly reducing energy demand without compromising safety or cost. Visit Thermulon.
Deep Science Ventures is funded through a blend of public innovation agencies, institutional investors, and high-profile tech leaders, combining grants from entities like Germany’s SPRIN-D and Innovate UK with private capital from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Schmidt Futures. The venture studio attracts direct investments from Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Sam Altman, alongside corporate partnerships with industry leaders such as Anglo American, creating a multi-tiered financial ecosystem to scale climate and health technologies.
Stages:
Deep Science Ventures invests primarily at the pre-seed and seed stages, focusing on companies it creates in-house or with partners. DSV is active at company formation and often follows on at seed, with occasional participation in Series A rounds, such as their investment in Dunia in October 2024.
Equity:
DSV aims for significant minority stakes to ensure strong alignment with founders.
Funds & Notable Developments:
Deep Science Ventures is committed to delivering measurable impact by building ventures that tackle global challenges in climate, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and computation. DSV has launched over 50 companies, with its portfolio attracting £160 million in funding and achieving a collective valuation of £500 million. DSV also advances diversity and education through initiatives such as the Venture Focused PhD Programme, which aims for 50% representation from women and ethnic minorities. By working closely with partners and focusing on outcome-driven innovation, DSV ensures each venture delivers real-world benefits for people and the planet.
Deep Science Ventures actively cultivates a global community of founder-type scientists, entrepreneurs, and partners dedicated to building high-impact science ventures. Through initiatives like the Venture Science Doctorate and strategic collaborations with organisations such as CGIAR, DSV provides scientists with access to world-class entrepreneurship training, industry expertise, and an expansive network. The DSV community leverages proprietary venture creation tools, open resources, and a rapidly growing ecosystem to connect talent, knowledge, and capital around the world’s most pressing challenges. By fostering collaboration across disciplines and geographies, DSV empowers its members to co-create breakthrough companies, share knowledge, and drive transformative outcomes for society and the planet.
The Deep Science Ventures team is composed of ambitious scientists, entrepreneurs, and operators with deep technical expertise and a passion for building high-impact ventures. Many team members have backgrounds spanning neuroscience, biosciences, artificial intelligence, cleantech, and venture creation, with experience leading academic accelerators, founding startups, and facilitating successful exits to major technology companies. This blend of scientific rigor and entrepreneurial drive enables DSV to systematically identify critical challenges, assemble founder-type scientists, and create outcome-focused companies across sectors like climate, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and computing.
DSV’s collaborative and agile approach leverages proprietary methodologies for venture creation, drawing on both industry partnerships and a dedicated sector specialist team to support founders from ideation through company formation. United by a shared sense of urgency and commitment to transformative impact, the Deep Science Ventures team empowers founders to tackle the world’s biggest problems and redefine entire industries.
Learn more about the team on the Deep Science Ventures Team Page.
1. Which sectors does DSV focus on for venture creation and investment?
DSV targets four main sectors: agriculture, climate , computation, and pharmaceuticals. They also support education through programs like the Venture Science Doctorate.
2. At what stage does DSV typically invest in companies, and what is their investment approach?
DSV primarily invests at the pre-seed and seed stages, often co-investing at company formation and selectively following on at seed or Series A. They aim for significant minority stakes to align interests with founders and have eliminated portfolio fees to support company growth.
3. What are some notable companies in the DSV portfolio?
Notable portfolio companies include:
4. How does DSV support diversity and education in science entrepreneurship?
DSV advances diversity and education through initiatives like the Venture Science Doctorate, aiming for 50% representation from women and ethnic minorities. They provide founder-type scientists with access to entrepreneurship training, industry expertise, and a global network.
5. Where does DSV operate, and how does it build its international reach?
DSV is headquartered in London but operates globally through strategic partnerships in over 30 countries, including collaborations with CGIAR (Asia, Africa, Latin America) and Germany’s SPRIN-D. Instead of regional offices, DSV leverages scientific partnerships and advisor networks to identify and develop breakthrough technologies worldwide.
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