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Startups commercialising hard science - chemistry, materials, robotics and manufacturing - where the lab work is the hard part.

7 articles · Updated 22 October 2025

What counts as Deep Tech

Deep tech covers startups commercialising hard science - chemistry, materials, robotics and manufacturing - where the lab work is the hard part. On this hub that means AI applied to chemical process development, energy storage materials, quantum computing tooling, mapping hardware, component search, and the beginnings of a commercial space economy.

Where the lab is the bottleneck

The companies on this hub share a constraint the rest of the site does not: you cannot ship your way out of a chemistry problem. Development is measured in experiments, cells and prototypes.

Compressing the experiment

ReactWise is the clearest illustration of what AI is genuinely good for in a laboratory setting. It accelerates chemical process development for pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing, where each experiment consumes real material and real weeks. The saving is not convenience - it is cycle time on a process that gates a drug reaching production.

Materials take the longest

Nanoramic Laboratories develops advanced energy storage for mission-critical demands. Battery materials are the least forgiving category on this site: there is no rapid iteration, and the result either performs under load or does not.

Making hard fields approachable

Two companies here are really about access rather than about the underlying science. Quancilla sets out to let an ordinary software developer build quantum applications without first becoming a physicist. Zenode does something similar for hardware engineers, making the vast catalogue of electronic components searchable by what you actually need.

Hardware that has to survive the field

Mosaic builds 360-degree mobile mapping cameras at the top end of resolution and robustness - a good example of a category where the specification is the product and there is nowhere to hide.

Ownership in orbit

Copernic Space is the most speculative profile on the hub, tokenising tangible space assets so that participation in space commerce is not restricted to governments and large contractors. Whether that market materialises is an open question - which is fairly typical of deep tech, and part of why it belongs in its own category.

Deep tech startups we have profiled, and the hard problem each one takes on
CompanyWhat it doesField
ReactWise AI software accelerating chemical process development for pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing.Chemistry
Nanoramic Laboratories Advanced materials company developing energy storage for mission-critical demands.Materials
Quancilla Makes building quantum applications approachable for ordinary software developers.Quantum
Mosaic Builds 360-degree mobile mapping cameras at the top end of resolution and robustness.Hardware
Zenode AI search engine for the electronic components inside everything from toothbrushes to televisions.Electronics
Copernic Space Platform tokenising tangible space assets to open up ownership in space commerce.Space
MRGN Brings serious business planning and intelligence capability to small businesses.Applied

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Frequently asked questions

What makes something deep tech on this site?

The hard part being science rather than software. These companies are commercialising chemistry, materials, quantum computing or physical hardware, which usually means longer development, real laboratory or manufacturing constraints, and a slower path to revenue.

Which company here is furthest from a normal software startup?

Nanoramic Laboratories. It is an advanced materials company developing lithium-ion energy storage for mission-critical use - a materials science problem where progress is measured in cells and chemistry rather than in releases.

How is AI used in deep tech, as opposed to elsewhere?

To compress experimental cycles. ReactWise applies AI to chemical process development for pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing, where each avoided experiment is real time and real material. Zenode uses it for search across electronic components.

Is quantum computing represented?

Quancilla is the one. Its argument is about access rather than hardware - making quantum application development approachable for regular software developers instead of requiring a physics background.

Do you cover space startups?

Copernic Space is the main example, building a platform that tokenises tangible space assets so that ownership in the emerging space economy is not limited to states and large primes.