Why Deeptech Is Replacing Traditional Software Startups
In the golden days of software, the recipe for success was simple: speed, iteration, and growth hacking. You didn’t need a breakthrough technology or complex research; you just needed to be faster to market than your competitors, delivering a product that users loved. Sometimes just because it was more convenient or aesthetically pleasing. The tech giants we know today emerged during this period, fueled by venture capital eager to back the next big app.
But here’s the catch: we’ve become so good at building software that the competitive advantage in this domain has evaporated. The very tools that made software development easier, like AI, low-code platforms, and open-source libraries, have commoditized the ability to build software. Now, anyone with basic programming knowledge and access to these resources can create software faster and cheaper than ever before. A task that would have taken a full engineering team six months to build in 2010 can now be done by a single engineer in weeks, if not days. When building software becomes 10x easier, it’s no longer about who can build faster, it’s about what’s left to build.
The shift to hard problems
The startups that are changing the world today are no longer just creating software; they’re solving fundamental problems that require breakthroughs in science and engineering. Deeptech spans areas like quantum computing, synthetic biology, advanced materials, space exploration, and beyond. It’s a domain where the competitive advantage doesn’t come from rapid iteration or user-friendly design. It comes from deep, interdisciplinary knowledge that’s difficult to replicate.
Take AI, for example. A decade ago, building a simple machine learning model might have earned you venture capital funding and a shot at an IPO. Today, even the most cutting-edge AI tools are increasingly accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This democratization has leveled the playing field, and now the advantage lies in combining AI with other domains like physics, chemistry, or biology to solve non-trivial problems.
The deeptech opportunity and challenges
Uniborn, a platform that facilitates diverse venture deal flows, is witnessing this shift firsthand. Investment opportunities in pure software startups, once the darlings of venture capital, now garner significantly less attention of investors. Even the most promising B2C software startups growing 150% YoY, struggle to stand out and secure funding. What we see is that investors are flocking to startups at later stages where the technology risk is mitigated, but more importantly, where the problems being solved are far more complex and require an interdisciplinary approach. Demand for deeptech solutions far outpaces supply because the problems they solve are of massive importance to society and almost impossible to commoditize.
This isn’t just a hypothesis. If you look at recent statements from leading voices in the venture capital world, like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, they’re all pointing to a future dominated by deeptech. Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital has been particularly vocal about this shift, emphasizing how companies that can bridge the gap between science fiction and science fact will define the next decade of innovation.
But building a deeptech company is hard. It requires multidisciplinary teams, years of research, and a willingness to take on scientific and technological risks that software entrepreneurs rarely face. It’s no surprise that deeptech startups often face higher upfront costs and longer timelines before profitability. However, for those that succeed, the rewards are substantial. Not only do they often dominate their industries, but they also enjoy a level of defensibility that software startups can only dream of. Once you’ve solved a problem as complex as fusion energy or quantum cryptography, it’s difficult for competitors to copy your homework.
We’re entering an era where deeptech is not just a niche — it’s the future of startup innovation. The days of building software for the sake of building software are behind us. The next wave of unicorns will be the companies solving the hardest problems with the most profound impact. As entrepreneurs, investors, and builders, it’s time to embrace this new reality. The world doesn’t need another app; it needs breakthroughs.
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