Deep tech sector on track for success: rise in startups continues

In the deep-tech sector, there is a continuing trend toward increasing numbers of new startups. The majority of deep-tech founders come from Munich.

In the deep technology sector, there is an increasing number of newly founded startups despite the current uncertainties on the market. An analysis by venture capital firm MorphAIs VC shows that a total of 275 deep-tech startups were counted in 2022, representing a 33% increase over the previous year. Interestingly, founders of deep tech startups on average have higher degrees than other founding teams. What is striking here is that more than one in ten founders studied at the Technical University of Munich.

According to a new study, 75% of deep-tech founders had a master's, diploma or doctorate degree in 2022, compared to only 58% for non-deep-tech founders. The difference is particularly striking in the case of doctoral degrees, where 21% of deep-tech female founders hold one, compared to only 11% of founders from other fields.

Startups with TU Munich background dominate deep tech sector

The analysis shows that most German deep-tech founding teams come from Munich. Out of a total of 325 evaluated founder profiles in 2022, 35 studied at the Technical University of Munich. RWTH Aachen, Technische Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Dresden have also produced some deep-tech female founders. Other universities with more than 5 deep-tech startups last year included Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Freie Universität Berlin and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Already a third of deep-tech companies have at least one experienced co-founder on board. For non-deep-tech startups, this proportion is currently 40%.

Deep-tech teams bring with them an excellent foundation in research and science, and one in three founding teams already has start-up experience

Eva-Valérie Gfrerer, CEO & General Partner MorphAIs VC

Despite the decrease in funding volume in 2022, Germany is seeing a 10% increase in Deep Technology investments compared to 2020. The 5-year review even shows an increase of 118%, making Germany a top market for deep tech investments in Europe. Across Europe, about $19.7 billion was invested in deep tech in 2022, compared to $51 billion in the US.

In 2022, Artificial Intelligence was the most invested sector in Germany with $2.1 billion. However, Clean Energy, Robotics, Blockchain and Space Technologies have also seen high levels of investment, with Blockchain and Clean Energy particularly trending. Investment volumes in these sectors have increased by more than 100% since 2020. In 2022, Celonis, Volocopter, and Hy2gen received the largest rounds of funding. Celonis topped the list with $400 million, followed by Volocopter with a total of $352 million from two rounds.

MorphAIs

Morphai's VC is a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments. It developed its own AI technology to invest in talented tech founders across Europe. Morphais VC's team consists of experienced founders, behavioral and data scientists, and mathematicians and invests in Europe from the DeepTech and FinTech sectors. The company is based in Berlin.