2025: The Year of Deeptech with Robot Pigeon

Welcome to 2025

We’re kicking off the year with the launch of the 7percent Manifesto, an exploration of key technologies in 2025 and beyond. Each month we deep dive with an opinion piece as well as offering seven other snippets we think you’ll find useful or interesting. Unsubscribe any time here.

We hope you had a good holiday and wish you a HNY!

Andrew S, Andrew G, Harry, Jeff and Rebecca.

Fail we may, sail we must.

The 7percent Ventures investment manifesto.

(7 min read). In the next 10 years, multi-trillion dollar industries will become completely unrecognizable, entirely new sectors will emerge and global behemoths will be toppled.

The rise of geopolitical instability and increasingly rapid technological progress will define how we live. Significant inflection points in technology, in broad areas from AI and robotics to climate and warfare, will transcend the scale of individual nations presenting challenges and opportunities.

The rise in global economic policy uncertainty.

Strategic missteps made during a golden age of neoliberalism have led to a world that, while economically more productive, remains critically imbalanced. In many ways, we have been borrowing from the future.

The cost of goods in the developed world is too often subsidized by the low wages and poor working conditions of the least well-off in developing countries.

Intensive production of commodities, from coffee and energy, to complex products such as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, are in many cases environmentally devastating.

Centralized manufacture and just-in-time delivery has created supply chain risk. And pirates in the Middle East continue to cause great disruption to shipping lanes.

Asymmetric warfare is giving way to a potential return of great-power competition as the free world faces constant gray-zone provocations from Moscow and Beijing. A future major war has become part of the drumbeat of news in a way not seen for over 50 years.

But it all is not bad.

The last century saw the jet engine make the whole planet accessible within a day’s travel. Semiconductors and microchips have enabled everything from cellphones to rapid DNA sequencing. And the space economy has birthed a host of capabilities from GPS and instant global communications to velcro!

The internet means that more human beings have access to unlimited information than have access to clean drinking water. And human welfare, though still low for many, continues to trend upward.

It all starts with security.

The United States and Europe should not be underestimated when it comes to industrial potential or technological depth. But Western Democracies have lacked a coherent strategy to counterbalance China’s pro-active expansion of their sphere of influence, via their Belt and Road initiative (or bridge and tunnel as we prefer to call it).

The organizations of democratic societies - governments and large corporations - are poorly equipped to adapt to and rapidly adopt the technologies which promote future prosperity. Any truly coherent strategy to counterbalance these moves, at national or supra-national level between the traditional international Allies, has been absent.

Western politicians devoid of statecraft are overseeing a systematic loss of influence over developing countries alongside a dangerous, tacit appeasement of bad state actors, who have taken advantage of an almost universally naive foreign policy. The most obvious example is the Ukraine war.

In many cases that lack of top-down, technocratic-esque industrial or more specifically technological planning, has meant frontier technologies - which will be critical to the economy and military of the future - have been underinvested in by Democratic powers, particularly outside of the United States.

To boldly go.

We believe it is only “deep tech” which can help us fix the big problems of today, by providing security and enabling greater resilience for commerce, health and even political stability.

Technological change is often viewed as gradual. But it is the step-change technologies of the last 100 years which define how we live today. Those once in a generation scientific discoveries which become commercial products and represent breakthroughs for humanity.

Ergo, the step-change of technologies today will have the same impact on our lives tomorrow. So by driving progress in key technological areas we can reduce uncertainty and realize civilization-level change, for the better.

The best companies are often born in the struggle of a downturn, by founders and technologists with their backs against the wall.

These startups need patient capital. Science risk is the job of universities, research laboratories and corporate R&D labs. Commercial engineering risk is the role of deep tech investors; to back the founding teams who can accelerate new technology from a proof of concept to a product or service which can change the world for the better.

The future will be different to today.

For the past 10 years 7percent has been investing in frontier technologies and solutions which transform laggard markets. We have four core themes, all essential to provide technological resilience and maintain leadership for the free world. We strive to be where the hockey puck is going, focused on backing technology which will create new markets, or transform the old.

Interstellar Labs builds biospheres to grow specialist plants or plants in adverse conditions on Earth, which can also be used to feed those living in future on the Moon, or Mars.

Future compute. As we trend toward the end of Moore’s law, a new generation of computing architecture is needed for the extreme demands of artificial intelligence. These new architectures will provide a step change in compute speed, processing capacity and energy efficiency. Demand for compute cycles is increasing at more than 10% year-on-year. While AI represents a challenge for society - whether fake news, financial scams or robots gone rogue - those who lead this revolution will get to set the regulations and decide the safety parameters associated with AI, and eventually AGI’s, use.

Though we believe we’re still many years from a general AI, its arrival is inevitable. As they say in Hollywood, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Defense and dual use. Drastically cheaper space launch and the ability to return goods, people and even asteroid mined minerals, easily from space, will accelerate the new space economy. Once Space-X’s Starship comes fully online, the growth of the in-space economy will be faster than most think. And those who control space, control planet Earth. A sobering thought.

Along with democratization of access to data from satellites and an explosion of (often) decentralized content and sensor data from edge devices, we’ll see big changes in our ability to detect and analyze everything. From immigration, to the environment, to the battlefield.

As advanced technology becomes cheaper and easier to deploy, the ability for aggressors without a big industrial base - or on a budget! - to take on an opponent with high-tech expensive weaponry, will change the dynamics of war. Very soon reconnaissance drones will be almost invisible, the size of insects. It's already possible for someone to adapt a virus with equipment that would fit in a regular garage. And while our focus has shifted to China’s aspirations for Taiwan and Russian expansionism, we probably haven’t seen the end of terrorism from radical groups. Technology will help us prevent future terrorist attacks and stronger sovereign defense capabilities can help deter state aggressors.

Smart Planet. The accelerating pace of climate change is underlining the need for technologies that can replace fossil fuels providing greener energy and to decarbonize our global supply chain, the way we build and transport goods as well as people. Technologies will emerge to provide transportation with less environmental impact and lower cost. From electric aviation and point to point mobility, to next gen nuclear and fusion power, we’re due a commercial breakthrough to help correct the damage the industrial revolution has wrought.

Buildings and building materials have changed only iteratively the last 150 years since the invention of steel. As new, stronger, greener materials arrive, we should see construction costs fall and green credentials rise. Smart building should be a thing - from the detection of health problems in a building sewage output, through to active heat management.

Humantech. We’re approaching a tipping point in quantified self. With basic wearables now ubiquitous - smart watches, fitness gadgets, sleep and glucose monitoring - more advanced health and wellness devices will provide an unprecedented amount of data, building on the basics of step count and blood oxygen levels and extending to constant non-invasive health monitoring and brain control interfaces which can help with pain relief, support mental health, or simply read our thoughts so we don’t have to swipe and type. These technologies are already in development.

This granular biometric data and the next generation consumer interfaces will redefine the human experience, both how we interact with our own body and the world around us.

In 1940, vehicle manufacturer Henry Ford predicted: "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” Many futurists also predicted that we’d have colonized Mars by now.

Timing is everything

It’s relatively easy to predict the broad trajectory of future technologies, it is timing that is the nemesis of investors. This is how we think about whether a new technology is ready to be scaled by a startup and change the world.

1. No hammers in search of nails. Technology must solve a specific problem. Too often technology is built which is then in search of a market or a problem. Much better to set out to solve a very large problem and identify, deploy or co-opt technology which will solve that problem 10x better than anyone else.
   

2. Rate of change. Deeptech is driven by a scientific advancement that a startup can translate into a commercially viable technology, or deploy known technology in a new way into a very large, existing laggard market. The product or service must deliver a step change in capability, rather than incremental progress.
   

3. Patience required. New technology often requires extensive work to commercialize. Startups require investors who will drive urgency but recognise that engineering can take time. Startups must have a cap table which will enable them to raise sufficient funding to take their technology to market and then grow at sufficient speed to win. That means sensible ownership structures - for investors, incubators, and universities - and a clear, focused roadmap, toward milestones (proof points, either technical or commercial) that the market (investors) will respond to.
   

4. Planet-scale potential. Winning startups can deliver positive change across whole societies and national economies. To affect this change, above all else any “deeptech” should be fundamentally disruptive. When a tech startup goes to market, it can be a category creator or it can rapidly consolidate an existing fragmented industry. Step-change technology companies should have the ambition to go big, or go home.
   

5. Risk. Rarely in our experience do deeptech startups fail because of the technology. They fail because of the human factor: co-founders fall out, the CEO can’t hire the very best team, they get the go to market wrong or believe product wins when it’s more often than not distribution which beats product.

   
   Often precisely because of its transformative potential, deeptech involves risk and uncertainty. Sometimes these risks are regulatory, sometimes related to market adoption or timing. On the other hand, technology and intellectual property is often complex, making them harder for competitors to replicate.

6. High stakes. The problems humanity faces are significant. With climate change it could be existential, even if not in our lifetimes, for our children. Globally volatility across economies and interstate rivalry continues to increase. We are seeking companies which will contribute to solutions for these issues. We look at dual-use (those that may have a defense and civilian applications) and defense technologies, critical to national interest. Put simply, these startups matter.

7. People are everything. Great startups are often led by highly competent generalists - or specialists who have become generalists - who are able to hire and retain extraordinary people. The leadership of these startups often have a specific insight about a problem and solution which others have overlooked or don’t believe. They then scale with cross-disciplinary teams, hiring the best in the world.

As capital allocators, we’ve never been more confident that, more than at any other time in history, it is deeptech which will be the foundation of our future health and prosperity. The world’s future trillion dollar companies are being created today.

We embrace the uncertainties, because that is how we will find the teams who will deliver true progress.

7percent has flourished because so often, deeptech is overlooked and undercapitalized at the early stage. Building a great company is incredibly difficult. As a team of ex-founders, we have direct operational, technical and investment experience. We’ve been through the ups and downs since the first dot com bust.

The stakes are too high for free society, to underinvest in these new technologies. We’ve committed our careers to this cause - to back the step change technology of the future. Founders make great sacrifices in their relentless pursuit to deliver solutions that matter to humanity and to bend the future in a more positive direction, to make a dent in the universe.

We back the products and services that in ten years people will wonder “how the world ever lived without”. Positive progress through technology and resilience — that's the 7percent mission. Welcome aboard our ship, on a journey of discovery.

The 7percent Team.

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At 7percent we are always looking for the next moonshot pre/seed startup to join our portfolio which today includes the likes of OculusVR, MagicPony, Universal Quantum, Greenjets, Limbic AI, Interstellar Labs, and BreezeAI.

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Portfolio News.

Stick it in reverse.

Vaire - building a new near zero energy compute architecture - was featured in the New Scientist magazine, with Rodolfo Rosini and Hannah Earley showcasing how Reversible Computing can be the solution to computing's AI energy problem. The same month, Michael Frank - who recently joined the team from Sandia National Laboratories - featured in IEEE Spectrum, discussing Vaire’s roadmap to a first prototype in Q1 2025, with a 10-year vision of achieving a 4,000x energy-efficiency improvement in computing.

Taking out the (space) trash.

Lúnasa Space and Space Machines Company signed a critical agreement for an upcoming In-Orbit Servicing mission under the UK-Australia Space Bridge Arrangement, backed by $8.5M from the Australian Government.

Space Machines Company will leverage Lunasa's StarLogic - a cutting-edge RPO (Rendezvous Proximity Operations) payload - as part of its second Optimus satellite mission in 2026, as it maps on-orbit objects and satellite debris. StarLogic will support Optimus in conducting rendezvous proximity operations (RPO) by calculating required orbital manoeuvres. This mission isn't just about solving the space debris challenge; it’s about redefining what’s possible in in-orbit servicing and laying the groundwork for a sustainable future in space.

Day of the Jackal.

True Anomaly began its second mission, Mission X-2, launching its Jackal Autonomous Orbital Vehicle (image below) into orbit aboard the Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission with SpaceX.

Mission X is the launch and operational demonstration of Jackal, True Anomaly’s first spacecraft purpose-built for the space superiority. The mission aims to characterise and expand Jackal’s maneuverability, object characterization, and tracking performance envelope-capabilities that set Jackal apart as a purpose-built for space superiority. The spacecraft is designed for military orbital operations and space domain awareness.

Cooking up a storm.

Following the Q2 opening of its first restaurant - Common Room - Kaikaku whipped up a media frenzy, featuring in the Telegraph as the robochef revolution poised to take over London’s restaurants. Josef and the team also featured on France’s largest TV channel Groupe TF1.

Josef and the team also won the Robotics & Automation award for The Best Use of Robotics or Automation in Food & Beverage Award 2024, competing against incumbents like Google DeepMind with Shadow Robot, Maersk Group with Dexory, Ocado Intelligent Automation, Geek+, and many more.

Space crystals for cancer treatment.

Just 6 months after initial investment, BioOrbit delivered its first payload for Space. Katie and the team are harnessing microgravity to produce cancer antibodies in space.

Earth’s gravity means that cancer antibodies - such as Keytruda - are formed with a wide range of sizes and quality. Because of this, antibodies must be injected intravenously (into the vein) as part of a solution, with procedures of 4-6 hours required every 3-4 weeks.

BioOrbit is harnessing microgravity to scale up this protein crystallisation in space, result in more perfect crystals with a smaller size distribution. This will enable a future of subcutatenous, at-home cancer treatment, as BioOrbit’s first step to becoming the world’s first space CDMO.

Which way to the checkout counter?

HyperAR launched its new app Hyper View, which allows users to try out indoor location and AR navigation, without writing any code. The platform will target users in retail, offices, campuses, hospitals, malls, airports, hotels, events and more, allowing them to spatially communicate with customers, and analyse the foot traffic of their spaces. Early sign up link here.

Secret recipes.

CheMastery emerged from stealth mode, and started nailing down pilot customers for its CheMastery Robotic Platform: A cutting-edge, chemistry-agnostic automation system designed to transform chemical research and manufacture. It is already capable of automating up to 90% of organic chemistry processes, allowing lab chemists to do what they do best, and develop new frontiers in production, synthesis and discovery.

Anna and the team also recently published a fascinating article on the varying perceptions of autonomy and why ‘Not all automation is equal’.

You can read more about why 7percent invested here.

7 things we like this month

1. Predictions for 2025 7percent partner Andrew J Scott joined Lomax Ward and the partners of Superseed on the Upside Podcast covering everything from will Apple win the AI race to geopolitical tensions and venture capital trends.

2. Leveling up: Register here for the launch of Social Mobility Ventures, providing a friends and family round for anyone who went to state school in the UK. Just 9% of the UK’s tech workforce went to a state (government funded) school compared to 93% of the country’s population.

3. Booker Prize winner: Orbital is a fantastic read that follows six fictional astronauts over 24 hours and 16 earth orbits on the International Space Station.

4. Tomorrow today: Google’s new Willow Quantum computer chip launched which claims to takes five minutes to solve a problem that would currently take the world's fastest super computers ten septillion years (that's 10^24!) to complete. IBM also this week revealed its plan to release the world’s largest quantum computer in 2025 with over 1,000 qubits. However, both of these technologies need to be scaled to millions of qubits to be useful and have limitations of cooling, wiring and inter-module connectivity which may prevent them doing so. Universal Quantum and NuQuantum have key unique solutions to achieving truly scalable quantum computing, so we know who our money is on.

5. Everything everywhere all at once 24 AI Tools Essential to Forgettable for 2025 by Peter Yang (we use 11 of the list in the 7percent stack).

6. How to feed 10 billion people without destroying nature. A fascinating Ted Talk by food futurist Andy Jarvis.

7. To infinity and beyond. 2024 saw 253 successful launches into orbit. The United States led with 140 successful orbital launches, followed by China at 68. SpaceX alone conducted 138 including 132 Falcon 9 launches, 2 Falcon Heavy launches and 4 Starship launches. The number of successful launches is up 20% from 2023 and we expect to see similar growth in 2025.

Onwards!

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