Vinay Subramanian, PhD Candidate, The Wharton School; David Hsu, Management, The Wharton School
Abstract: This study explores the commercialization and growth strategies of deeptech startups. Deeptech or Hardtech start-ups are a unique set of ventures whose offerings are grounded in breakthrough science and/or engineering innovation (MIT report, 2023). They typically span sectors such as the life sciences, clean technology, advanced materials, robotics, chemicals and quantum computing. Deeptech startups are often characterized by both technical and commercial uncertainties and need a long gestation period and significant capital intensity to scale; considerably different conditions compared to typical software/ digital start-ups (Arora et al., 2024). These factors introduce significant heterogeneity in terms of internal/ external resource acquisition, commercialization process and need for complementary assets. Using a novel hand-collected dataset combining multiple methodologies, I investigate the challenges faced by deeptech startups in terms of their commercialization and scaleup strategies.