Deep Tech, Defence & The Future of Venture Capital | Rubina Signh
About This Episode
In this episode of Nothing Ventured, Aarish Shah sits down with Rubina Singh from Foresight Group to explore the changing landscape of deep tech venture capital, strategic infrastructure, and the challenges of turning breakthrough technology into scalable businesses.
Rubina shares her perspective on deep tech investing, defence and space technology, healthtech, university spinouts and what separates great technology from great venture-backed companies. She explains why solving a real customer problem, understanding commercialisation and finding the right capital are just as important as the underlying technology.
The conversation covers the growing focus on strategic technologies, why defence and space are attracting significant market pull, and how investors can identify genuine capability gaps rather than simply following fashionable areas of technology.
They also explore the challenges facing UK university spinouts, including technology transfer, intellectual property, commercialisation and talent, as well as what the UK can learn from ecosystems such as MIT and Stanford.
The discussion also looks at corporate venture capital, startup pilots, procurement cycles, strategic investors and the potential risks of becoming too dependent on a single corporate customer.
They also discuss healthtech, AI, sensors, medical devices and therapeutics, why biology cannot always be accelerated to fit venture capital timelines, and how different forms of patient or blended capital could help fund companies that don't fit the traditional VC model.
In this episode:
* Deep tech and the future of venture capital
* Investing in defence and space technology
* Strategic infrastructure and sovereign capabilities
* What makes a great deep tech company
* Technology vs product vs commercialisation
* The importance of customer demand and market size
* UK university spinouts
* Technology transfer and intellectual property
* Commercialising university research
* The UK deep tech ecosystem
* Deep tech talent and founder support
* Corporate venture capital and strategic investors
* Startup pilots and pilot fatigue
* Corporate procurement and long sales cycles
* Strategic investors and potential conflicts
* Healthtech and healthcare innovation
* AI, sensors and medical technology
* Venture capital vs patient and blended capital
* Why not every great company is a fit for VC
* Failure, resilience and lessons for founders and investors
* The future of deep tech and innovation
Find Rubina Singh online at:
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rubina9
Foresight Group: https://foresight.group/meet-the-teams/private-equity-and-ventures/rubina-singh/
🎙️ Listen to Nothing Ventured for conversations with founders, investors and the people shaping the future of venture capital.
#DeepTech #VentureCapital #DefenceTech #SpaceTech #HealthTech #AI #Startups #VC #UniversitySpinouts #DeepTechInvesting #Innovation #Entrepreneurship
Watch on YouTube: Deep Tech, Defence & The Future of Venture Capital | Rubina Signh