Why money alone won’t save Europe’s deep-tech startups
Hessel Mittelmeijer is pairing his PhD defence at Eindhoven University of Technology with a symposium on deep-tech venture capital.
Published on November 15, 2026
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“European venture capital investors need to look beyond finance and draw on a network of experts to guide young companies from prototype to commercial scale.” That is one of the main findings of Hessel Mittelmeijer’s doctoral research at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He examined what it would take to prevent Europe from losing competitiveness, technological sovereignty, and future prosperity to regions better at commercialising scientific breakthroughs.
Europe invests billions in research and develops some of the world’s most advanced technologies. It excels in fields such as semiconductors, photonics, quantum technology, advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Yet only a small share of these innovations give rise to globally successful companies. According to Mittelmeijer, about 54% of venture-backed companies in the United States successfully grow beyond the startup stage, compared with just 23% in Europe.
Symposium: Building Europe’s Deep-Tech Financing Chain
On November 17, TU/e and DeepTech Capital Partners will mark Mittelmeijer’s doctoral research with a symposium titled From Lab to Commercialization: Building Europe’s Deep-Tech Financing Chain. The event will bring together around 140 participants from Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem, including institutional investors, pension funds, banks, family offices, venture capital funds, companies, universities and policymakers.
Speakers include Koen Janssen (president of TU/e), René van Vlerken (CEO of Euronext), Rinke Zonneveld (CEO of Invest-NL), Susan Swarte (CFO of TNO), Marcel Andringa (executive board member at PME Pension Fund), Ivana Sersic Vollenbroek (BOM) and several leading researchers.
Mittelmeijer’s dissertation finds that commercial success depends on a combination of R&D, strategic partnerships, organisational development, financing and market access. “When all these elements are well aligned, the chances of success rise considerably,” the study says.
Non-financial support is essential
For venture capital investors, Mittelmeijer’s research highlights the importance of pairing funding with the right non-financial support at the right time. Investors tend to be most interested in the commercialisation stage.
That creates a problem for deep-tech startups, which develop complex technologies often built on years of research. Even after they are founded, these companies typically face a long, capital-intensive development phase to turn their technology into a product. Investors are generally more familiar with the next stage, when the product is brought to market. Product development requires a different management approach. Mittelmeijer’s research shows how these dynamics play out.
Hessel Mittelmeijer
Early-stage funding
One solution to emerge from Mittelmeijer’s research is to make more capital available at the early stage. He argues for larger early-stage funds backed by multidisciplinary teams and able to make substantial investments. “These funds need institutional investors as partners.”
Mittelmeijer also concludes that venture capital investors can succeed in the valley of death only if they take a structured approach to creating value across strategy, operations and technology. “That’s only possible if you build a network and an ecosystem around your fund that can provide indirect guidance to deep-tech startups,” he says.
Mittelmeijer also finds that sustainability and impact can help build financial value when a deep-tech startup is sold. “Investors still give sustainability too little weight when deciding whether to invest, even though European rules require them to report on sustainability every year.” For sustainability and impact to drive financial value, buyers need to see them. Mittelmeijer’s research proposes a process for making that possible.
Challenges
Mittelmeijer concludes that the priority is to give startups access to the right non-financial resources at the right time. “Early on, that support is often more technical, and that’s one of the biggest challenges. Most investors still come from economics and finance, while early-stage deep-tech startups are grappling primarily with industrialisation.”