AI is finally making DeepTech venturable
The hosts:
Michelle Robson, Odyssey Ventures
Lisa Schneider, Aramco Ventures
What is this Ripple about?
Steel, cement, chemicals, grid-scale energy storage, industrial heat, carbon capture, hydrogen production — the sectors are responsible for the majority of global emissions and the foundations of modern civilisation. These industries are not untouched by venture capital because investors lack ambition. They are untouched because the economics have been structurally incompatible with the VC model. AI is the first tool in history capable of changing that from the inside.
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
Massive disruptions in supply chains combined with foreshadows of major dislocations in labour markets from AI - and compute power and sophistication at the tipping point to enable transformation of massive industries
Key questions or challenges being explored
The Timeline Problem: Venture operates on a ten-year cycle, with most returns expected in years five through nine. Software companies can achieve this — Industrial and DeepTech operates on a different clock entirely. The recent cleantech waves exposed this mismatch with painful precision and the losses have been substantial.
The Capital Structure Problem: Industrial and DeepTech faces a second structural challenge: the capital required to scale is an order of magnitude larger than a venture fund can comfortably provide, and is needed when the risk is still too high for infrastructure investors.
Why should we believe AI can avoid the mistakes of the past and genuinely make DeepTech and Industrial Tech Venturable?
The main tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
AI does not repeal the laws of thermodynamics. It does not make electrochemistry faster or steel cheaper to decarbonise. AI compresses the iterative cycles that consume the most time and capital in industrial R&D, without reducing the structural moat that those years of development create. This makes AI genuinely different from every previous wave of cleantech optimism.
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Investors and innovators in Industrial and DeepTech