Deeptech Startups Need Support Beyond Funding

Ninety-five percent of deeptech* startups are looking for industrial partnerships for non-financial needs, but only half are succeeding in their efforts, according to research launched today by Hello Tomorrow and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The gap is due to startups’ extreme caution in allying themselves with companies that can seem structurally and culturally removed from their realities. The findings are the preliminary results of a global study on the development of deeptech startups, released at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit on October 13 and 14 at the Centquatre in Paris.

Preliminary results reveal four key takeaways:

• Deeptech startups face challenges beyond just capital: twenty-seven percent of startups express concern over the time to market of their innovations, while 25% mention capital need. Sixteen percent express strong uncertainty about market opportunities, with more than half feeling that they need more information about the economic environment.
• Ninety-five percent of the startups interviewed are interested in collaborations for non-financial needs, such as commercial data, distribution networks, and customer segmentation.
• However, approximately 50% of the startups interviewed are not currently part of an industrial partnership. This gap is due to two key factors: 1) there are few platforms or opportunities for startups to meet companies, and 2) startups often fear that collaborating with a company will lead to a loss of control.
• In France, these meeting opportunities are even more limited: only 65% of French startups succeed in getting in touch with companies (versus 85% for other respondents around the world).

A global survey of 300 startups at various stages of maturity

Three hundred startups worldwide, across different industries and stages of maturity, participated in the survey, the first of a broader study that will be released by the end of the year. For BCG and Hello Tomorrow, this study is a first step towards identifying actionable levers to accelerate collaboration and interactions between startups and key stakeholders in the deeptech ecosystem, including large corporations, venture capital funds, universities, incubators, and business angels. The aim is to raise awareness and remove barriers between startups and key players in the deeptech ecosystem, ultimately accelerating deeptech development.

Over the past 15 years, governments have created a range of technology transfer institutions to connect research and business, with the risk of increasing the number of players, creating more and more interfaces, and making it difficult to navigate the path between research and the market. Hello Tomorrow’s mission is to accelerate the transformation of laboratory discoveries into marketable products and services, with a real impact on industries and society. Rather than creating new intermediaries, Hello Tomorrow focuses on removing the existing barriers between research and business.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or gregoire.eric@bcg.com.

*Deeptech Innovation: innovation based on a major technological, scientific or engineering advancement