Brain-computer interfaces and neurotech mature into a real deeptech category, not just a sci-fi headline
Matthieu Vallin, Partner UK
A few years ago, most brain-computer interface stories felt like science fiction: glossy videos, bold promises, very long timelines. Serious investors tended to file BCI under “defence projects and Big Tech experiments” rather than something a focused deeptech fund should underwrite. It was easy to put neurotech in the “fascinating but too far out” bucket.
That’s no longer a fair reading of the data. Venture investment into implanted BCI companies reached at least the mid hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024, with sizeable rounds for players like Blackrock, Precision Neuroscience and INBRAIN. Broader estimates put total BCI funding at around $2-3 billion in 2024 when you include non-implanted systems and adjacent tooling. The global BCI market itself is often valued in the $1.6-2.9 billion range for 2024 and is projected to grow at mid-teens to 20% CAGR over the next decade, potentially passing $6-15 billion by the mid-2030s.
On the clinical side, we’re already in human trials. Neuralink has implants in a growing cohort of patients and a long waiting list, while competitors like Paradromics have tested high-channel devices in humans and secured FDA approval for longer-term trials. Big Tech is circling too, with new neurotech ventures positioned explicitly as part of the human-AI interface story. I don’t expect mass-market “thought typing” in 2026, but I do think we’re crossing a line where brain-computer and advanced neural interfaces become a recognisable deeptech category with its own playbooks, not just a curiosity.
The areas I’d watch most closely:
- Clinical BCI platforms focused on high-need indications like paralysis, stroke and severe speech disorders, with clear regulatory roadmaps, safety data and reimbursement logic.
- Non-invasive and minimally invasive neurotech that can be deployed at scale for monitoring, rehabilitation and performance, without requiring neurosurgery.
- Tooling and infrastructure for BCI R&D, data standards, simulators, surgical robotics and software, that lowers the barrier for new teams to enter the space responsibly.
I don’t see BCI replacing more “traditional” deeptech bets like quantum or fusion; it will sit alongside them as a serious, multi-decade frontier. The standout companies will be the ones that combine ambitious technology with very careful clinical and ethical execution.
Quantum in Europe becomes a concentrated, strategic bet and we are already past the “science project” phase
Maximilien Bacot, Co-founder & COO
For a long time, quantum lived in the “too early” folder: dense physics, uncertain timelines and pitch decks that read like grant proposals. As an engineer, the ambition was exciting; as a fund, it was hard to see where the product and the revenue would come from, or when.
That picture is changing. In 2024, deeptech (including AI) drew around €15bn in VC, close to a third of all European venture capital, with quantum and advanced hardware sitting alongside AI as core subsectors rather than curiosities. Globally, the quantum computing market is estimated at about $1.4bn of revenue in 2024, with forecasts pointing to roughly $4-4.2bn by 2030, and broader quantum-tech revenues (computing, communications, sensing) expected to rise from about $2.7bn in 2024 to nearly $9.4bn in 2030. On the public side, the EU has already invested over €8bn into quantum between 2018 and 2024 and put a dedicated Quantum Europe Strategy in place, treating the field as strategic infrastructure rather than a pure research topic.
On the private side, we’ve seen platforms like Alice & Bob (where we invested early) raise €100m+ Series B funding on top of earlier grants and rounds, with national programmes such as France 2030 and PROQCIMA explicitly backing their roadmap to fault-tolerant machines. Put simply: there is now a small set of platforms attracting serious capital on double-digit revenue multiples, and a long tail that will struggle to justify similar expectations. The physics risk has not disappeared, but the category is no longer built purely on hope.
By 2026, I expect three clusters to attract most of the attention:
- Full-stack European quantum and photonics platforms that can credibly become national or regional champions, with long-term state and strategic capital behind them.
- Application companies in simulation, optimisation and materials that make money on hybrid (quantum + classical) infrastructure while fully scaled machines are still being built.
- Enabling technologies (control electronics, cooling, error-correction, verification) that become the picks-and-shovels every serious quantum stack needs.
From my perspective, the interesting founders in this space treat quantum like any other deeptech product category: they are obsessive about the science and equally serious about who their first 10 customers are, what they are paying for, and how to bridge from early pilots to repeatable revenue. Beautiful physics without a commercial path will increasingly belong in a different funding model than venture.
Europe’s deep tech story becomes less about patents and more about systems that keep the continent running.
Ben Marrel, Co-founder & CEO
“Deep tech” in Europe used to be a polite way of saying “brilliant IP, unclear timeline”. We celebrated research output, filed patents and trusted that commercialisation would somehow happen elsewhere. It was flattering, but it also meant most of the value creation happened in other geographies.
The numbers now tell a different story. If Europe actually scales its deep tech engine, recent work suggests it could create around $1 trillion in enterprise value and up to a million jobs by 2030. Deep tech’s share of European VC funding has more than doubled over the last decade, and in some Eastern European hubs it already represents over 15% of all venture capital, compared with roughly 10% in the rest of Europe. In parallel, European AI and semiconductor alliances, from $10bn+ frontier model companies to multi-billion euro chip partnerships, make it clear that sovereignty in energy, compute, health and defence will rely on a cohort of deep tech companies that reach real scale, not just scientific milestones. The boundary with ClimateTech is also fading: fusion, advanced batteries, power electronics, novel materials, carbon removal and precision agriculture are all deep tech plays that underpin the decarbonisation infrastructure described in the previous chapter.
In that context, the winners are the teams who can turn fusion, novel materials, space infrastructure and bioengineering into dependable systems that sit inside hospitals, grids and factories and can be financed by infrastructure funds, project finance, corporate balance sheets and eventually pensions and insurers, not just early-stage venture capital.
Where I expect demand to accelerate in 2026:
- Fusion-enabling subsystems such as heating, magnets and power electronics that can be manufactured at scale and banked by project financiers.
- Orbital and in-situ sensing platforms that feed directly into agriculture, climate risk and health applications, rather than “space data” without clear end-users.
- Biotech and medtech instrumentation that moves from research labs into routine clinical workflows, with robust pathways through European regulators and payers.
We will continue to back deep tech that can be valued as part of Europe’s backbone in energy, health, climate and security, not just as a remarkable piece of science.
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