Deep Science Ventures

Proud, humbled, overjoyed, hyped, ecstatic, devastated: just a few of the words the DSV marketing team was *forbidden* from using to describe our feeling about DSV being shortlisted for TWO categories (Most Creative Investor AND New Company Creator) at the One Nucleus Awards 2025 alongside Babraham Research Campus (home to several DSV portfolio companies), o2h Ventures (co-investor in several DSV portfolio companies), UCL Business Ltd (historic rivals from DSV's founders' time at Imperial) and AlbionVC. Congratulations to all of our co-nominees and here's hoping for an awards ceremony free from drama, physical violence or any kind of performance whatsoever from TakeThat (link to the article about Take That's performance at the BAFTAs in the comments).

We don't want to cast any shade on MBAs, but a PhD is to our mind the most specialised vehicle for the creation of deep, technical inventions that might achieve huge impact. Programmes like Activate, Breakthrough Energy Fellows are such a powerful vehicle for reinforcing that vehicle. The extraordinary Phil De Luna, who himself is a PhD holder and before turning 35 (a guess, or else he's making Bryan Johnson look bad) is the Chief Science and Commercial Officer of Deep Sky (yah: both science and commerial), which recently raised $40m from Bill Gates, goes to show that whilst 3 years sounds like a minute, it's the fastest route to the edge of human knowledge and capability. DSV founders like Gaël Gobaille-Shaw, Nicholas Chadwick and Shiladitya Ghosh (founders of Mission Zero Technologies) all hold PhDs, allowing them to have built the first UK company to deploy operational commercial Direct Air Capture plants. Our own PhD programme, designed as a dedicated pathway for invention and venture creation is open now. The early application deadline is end of March, so please share with anyone you think might thrive in such a creative, high ambition, technical environment. Links to Phil's article and the VSD application page in the comments!

Congrats to Gabi Heller and the Bind Research team to create the UK's first Focused Research Organisation, securing £25.8 million to make disordered proteins druggable and thereby transform drug discovery. cc Laura Fletcher, PhD for her work in supporting BIND to get this off the ground whilst it was in the design stages as part of Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's Research Ventures Catalyst programme and to Ilan Gur for connecting us all up initially!

Incredibly, Winnie Wambugu carried on job-hunting even after starting a company Nakuru Tubers, which supported by the United Nations World Food Programme, trained 2000 smallholder farmers in Kenya to transform potato farming. Winnie was recently interviewed by AgFunder on her experience and decision to join our PhD programme - the Venture Science Doctorate. Read her extraordinary story in the link in the comments, where you can also find a link to apply before the early application deadline at the end of March.

🚀 We're hiring a Co-Founder & Advisors to launch a new venture tackling the steel industry’s massive carbon footprint. Steel is the backbone of modern civilisation, but its production burns 1 billion tonnes of coal per year, emitting 3.5 billion tonnes of CO2—equivalent to four times all global flight emissions. We're developing a commercially viable approach to decarbonise primary ironmaking, and building a team to co-found the venture with Jim Hickey (technical co-founder in residence). We’re looking for expertise in steelmaking technologies & processes / commercial knowledge & network within the steel industry / experience in building & scaling industrial tech incl. fundraising. For full details, incl. to apply, see: https://dsv.vc/4gfDBc1

The Venture Science Doctorate getting a mention alongside groups like Activate, Breakthrough Energy , The Engine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in this peer-reviewed article on "Facilitating Graduate Student Entrepreneurship" - their top recommendation is to broaden the top of the PhD funnel by delineating specific alternative career paths for scientists (link in comments!) The Venture Science Doctorate is a PhD in invention: backed by groups like Schmidt Futures and SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen, focused on selecting and training individuals specifically to foster an engineering mindset in science, working from societal outcome backwards. Applications are now open for cohort 3 (link in comments) Thanks to authors Theo Diamandis, Nathaniel Simon, Benjamin Lane, Ryan Cohen, Kushal Seetharam, Nagela Nukuna and Troy B. for the mention!

Mark1 have just launched applications for their inaugural cohort. Their objective is to unlock late-stage development and project capital for your first of a kind climate technology project, within 18 months of joining the cohort. The programme is backed by major philanthropies and EPCs, in partnership with the RMI, the Rocky Mountain Institute and (of course) DSV itself. Get those applications in! Link in comments

First post of the year: we wanted to cast a spotlight on one of the longest running members of the DSV team, Kerstin Papenfuss, PhD MBA, the Director in charge of our work in therapeutics. Kerstin was recently selected as a top 10 female leader by Global Woman Leader and recorded an excellent podcast with Dr. James Somauroo and the The Healthtech Podcast about her approach to venture creation (link in comments). Kerstin has led the creation of multiple companies at DSV including most recently Panthura (curative approach to Cystic Fibrosis) and Plurify (scaling production of faultless cell therapies) and sits on the board of several others, including Antiverse, who recently announced their landmark licensing deal with Nxera. She's been intrinsic to our partnerships with Cancer Research Horizons, AbbVie, Parkinson's UK, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and many others and leads an extraordinary team including Anís Gammage, Laura Fletcher, PhD, Jonathan Cohen-Gold, PhD and John Counsell. The survival rate and fundraising hit rate of companies built by Kerstin is extraordinary and having her on the boards of our portfolio companies is a solid sign of the likely success of those companies. A massive privilege to have Kerstin running Therapeutics at DSV! Onwards into 2025.

We’re thrilled to share an exciting milestone 🏆 for Aquanzo! We have completed out first Mobile Unit onsite operation at Boortmalt. We achieved a successful 20x scale-up 🚀 of the our system, producing biomass and meal, while upcylcing ♻️ up to 50% steep water. Thanks 🙏 to all the team at Boortmalt and Innovate UK for supporting this project. We look forward to testing more agro-industrial liquid co-products with some very exciting partners in 2025 (stay tuned). Reach out if you want to know more about Aquanzo pioneering farmed marine ingredients for animal feed… Here’s to building a more sustainable future. #SaveTheOcean, #FarmMarineIngredients, #Startups, #Innovation, #BlueFood, #OceanTech, #AquaTech

📢 Groundbreaking UK-German collaboration in scientific innovation 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 ❗ PhD Opportunity UK-based Deep Science Ventures and Germany's Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen) are launching Europe's first PhD programme focused on creating high-growth #startups. The Venture Science Doctorate (VSD) represents a new approach to tackling global climate and health challenges. What's on offer: ✅ Full funding for 3 years (including stipend & research costs) ✅ Access to 30+ world-class research facilities ✅ Cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate innovation ✅ Support from leading institutions like Max Planck Institute and National Physical Laboratory (NPL) This isn't your typical PhD - we're looking for ambitious scientists ready to transform research into high-impact ventures. Focus areas include #SustainableEnergySolutions, #WaterScarcity, #PandemicPreparedness, and #PaediatricOncology. ❓ Ready to shape the future of #climate and #health #innovation? Applications for the September 2025 cohort are now open. Apply by 27th March 2025: Full detail on link below: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eeYzDNdJ #UKGermanInnovation #PhDOpportunity #StartupInnovation #Climate #Healthcare #Research #GlobalChallenges