Signal from the frontier.
InsightsDeep Tech Venture Studios in Southeast Asia: The Real Gap
Southeast Asia deep tech raised $562M in 2025 over half as many rounds. What a deep tech venture studio in the region must do, and how to vet one.
InsightsForty Billion At Seventy-Five A Tonne
The Innovation Fund is quoted as EUR 40 billion. That is not a budget line, it is a multiplication: 40 billion divided by the EUR 75 per tonne carbon price the programme assumes gives 533 million tonnes of allowances, and only about a third of the headline has a signed project behind it.
InsightsStart On A Tuesday, Not On A Deadline
The EIC Accelerator's six 2026 batching dates make it look like an annual competition with a closing date. It is not. The short proposal is open every day of the year and batched on the first Tuesday of the month, and the backward arithmetic from the 4 November deadline is the part most founders never run.
InsightsLicense or Build? The Startup Patent Decision
License or build a startup around your patent? The deep-tech test: complementary assets, patent window, capital, and when to split by field of use.
InsightsFour Million Euros, And One Applicant Is Enough
The EIC Pathfinder Challenges carry EUR 96 million across 3 thematic windows and close on 28 October 2026. Up to EUR 4 million per project, and for this instrument a single applicant is enough: the 3-country consortium rule does not apply to the Challenges.
InsightsUniversity Research Commercialization: Which Systems Work
University research commercialization is shaped by rules: who owns the IP, who decides, what the university takes. What the US, UK and EU data show.
InsightsThe 25 Per Cent Line Nobody Reads
A window paying up to USD 500,000 per project and 10 projects in total opens on 12 October and shuts on 16 November 2026. At least 25 per cent of the budget has to sit with local partners, and that one clause decides more applications than the idea does.
InsightsWhat Is a Venture Builder? The Model, Types and Costs
A venture builder creates companies from scratch and takes founder-level equity. The four types, the real equity ranges, and where the model breaks.
InsightsThe September Cluster Is Already Decided
Five Horizon Europe and LIFE deadlines land inside eight working days from 15 to 23 September 2026. A collaborative proposal takes three to four months, so that cluster was decided in spring. The window still open runs from 28 October to 17 December, and the nearest door needs no consortium at all.
InsightsHow Do Venture Studios Make Money? The Four Revenue Lines
How do venture studios make money? Founding equity at exit, fees, services and distributions, the years each one pays, and how studios survive the gap.
InsightsThe Twenty-Third Country
On 9 June 2026 the European Commission and Australia concluded negotiations on association to Horizon Europe. Australia becomes the twenty-third associated country, and it enters through one pillar only. From 1 January 2027 its entities stop self-funding and can lead a consortium.
InsightsThe Eleven-Day Window
Sweden's Klimatklivet ran its second open round of 2026 from 24 August to 4 September and closed at 16:30. Every application was ranked on one computed ratio, kilogrammes of CO2 equivalent per krona invested, and a breakpoint drew the line wherever the budget ran out.
InsightsThe File Outlives The Project
A grant award opens a file, not a finish line. German public research funding puts the burden of proof on the recipient: a funding code on every invoice, six years of indicator returns, ten years of originals, and material changes reported before anyone asks.
InsightsEU Funding for Deep Tech Startups: Grants, Equity, Debt
EU funding for deep tech startups is a ladder, not one grant. How to sequence EIC grants, EIC Fund equity and EIB venture debt from lab to scale-up.
InsightsCommercialization of Academic Research: Why It Stalls
Commercialization of academic research stalls for structural reasons, not weak science. Five bottlenecks, the evidence behind each, and what fixes them.
Operating ThesisThe Fine Is Priced At Your Turnover
The EU AI Act deadlines are binding until the amending text is adopted, not until it is proposed. And the penalty is a percentage of group turnover, with a lower SME figure that is still measured against the small company own revenue.
InsightsIP as an Asset Class: What Investors Get Wrong
IP as an asset class explained for investors: the four ways to own it, why patents barely show on balance sheets, and why liquidity is the real problem.
InsightsGerman Industrial Research Funding: Who Qualifies And Who Does Not
A German grant programme that funds research institutions rather than companies: who is eligible, the three modules and their published ceilings, and why the application window is the whole story in 2026.
InsightsWhat Is Patent Portfolio Management? The Owner's Guide
Patent portfolio management is the operating system behind your patents: records, docket, annuity decisions, title and review. Who runs each, and when.
InsightsVenture Studio vs Private Equity: What Differs
Venture studio vs private equity on stage, control and returns, with real numbers from a deep-tech builder that finances, patents and builds hardware.
Operating ThesisBiomethanation Economics: Why The H2 Price Decides Everything
Biological methanation has left the lab: 35 e-methane plants ran in Europe in 2023. The engineering is settled, the patent field has consolidated, and the investment case now rests on one input price.
Operating ThesisThe Operator Supply Problem: Deep Tech Rarely Stalls On Science
In capital-intensive technology the binding constraint is almost never the invention. It is the operator supply, and you cannot hire twenty of those people in a quarter. They do not exist in the market as a queue. So you have to manufacture them.
Venture CapitalThe Funding Gap: Why Breakthrough Science Dies In The Lab
Governments fund 56 to 70 percent of project capital in the markets that matter, and almost nobody claims it. Here is how that money actually moves.
Operating ThesisThe Operator's Discount: Why We Co-Build Instead of Co-Investing
The most expensive thing a founder can buy is time. We eliminate that cost by embedding operators who have already built the exact systems the venture needs.
Venture CapitalWhy Government-Backed Venture Is the Smartest Capital on the Table
Governments fund between 56 and 70 percent of project capital in the markets we work in. It is published, allocated and almost entirely unclaimed. Non-dilutive money is the most undervalued instrument on the cap table.
InsightsWaste to Energy Funding: The Capital Stack, Stage by Stage
How waste to energy funding really works: preparation grants, capex grants, blended concessional finance and senior project debt, with real numbers.
InsightsThe Waste to Energy Business Model: Who Actually Pays
Three waste to energy business models, sorted by who can contractually pay: the gate fee utility, the single tariff IPP, and on site processing.
InsightsPatent Licensing Strategy: License, Hold, or Build
A patent licensing strategy decides which patents to license, hold or build on: the screens, the programme phases, and how a deep-tech builder does it.
InsightsPatent Portfolio Strategy: Build, Prune, Monetise
A patent portfolio strategy that survives year 12: what to file, what the twenty year bill really is, when to prune, and what to license or sell instead.
InsightsHow to Evaluate a Deep Tech Startup: 7-Step Diligence
How to evaluate a deep tech startup: separate science risk from engineering risk, evidence the TRL claim, price the valley, and test the real moat.
InsightsHow to Commercialize University Research: 3 Routes
Commercialize university research: license, spin out or assign. The three routes priced against each other, and the deadline that decides which stay open.
InsightsDeep Tech Venture Builders in Europe: How They Differ
Europe builds 45% of the world's deep tech startups and captures 17% of the funding. The four builder models filling that gap, and how to pick one.
InsightsDeep Tech Investing for Family Offices: A Field Guide
Deep tech investing for family offices: where patient capital wins, how to diligence science risk, and what a builder with 200+ units deployed sees.
InsightsPatent Strategy for Deep Tech Startups
Patent strategy for deep tech startups: what to protect, when to file against a ten year development clock, where to file, and what a portfolio costs.
InsightsDeep Tech vs High Tech: The Difference Is Science Risk
Deep tech and high tech differ by the risk you underwrite first, not by sophistication. The real test, the funding consequences, and the edge cases.
InsightsIs a Venture Studio Worth It? A Founder's Math
Is a venture studio worth it for founders? Price the equity against real capital, model dilution after two rounds, and see when the answer flips.
InsightsCarbon Removal vs Carbon Capture: Same CO2, Two Markets
Carbon removal vs carbon capture: same molecule, different business. Where the CO2 comes from decides credit eligibility, price per tonne and who pays.
InsightsWhat Is Research Commercialisation? Definition and Routes
Research commercialisation is how lab science reaches a market. The plain definition, the four routes out, real timelines, and who keeps what.
InsightsVenture Studio vs Venture Capital: The Real Trade
Venture studio vs venture capital: equity ranges, the 10-year fund clock, who carries which risk, and why deep-tech founders usually need both.
InsightsCarbon Removal Technology: What Actually Delivers Tonnes
Carbon removal technology ranked by verified tonnes delivered, not tonnes contracted: biochar, BECCS, DAC, enhanced weathering and real costs.
InsightsVenture Studio Business Model: Holdco, Fund or Hybrid
How the venture studio business model works: holdco, fund and dual entity structures, where the operating cost sits, and the returns each one has to beat.
InsightsWhat a Deep Tech Venture Builder Actually Does
A deep tech venture builder sources lab science, finances it, patents it and staffs it. The five jobs, the equity cost, and how to spot a fake one.
Portfolio · Zero-X120 Hours, Under 3% Variance: The EQL-150 Prototype Completes Its Longest Continuous Run
EX Venture portfolio company Zero-X ran its EQL-150 prototype gasifier for 120 uninterrupted hours, holding syngas LHV variance below 3% and past the 72-hour mark where decay once appeared. The run validates a new condition-based ash extraction logic and produces the program's anchor reference dataset — proof engineering that makes the machine sellable.
ProductEX FI enters beta: the first 100 personal bank accounts are now open
EX FI, the FCA-regulated financial arm of EX Venture, has quietly opened its personal accounts to beta. The first 100 accounts are being onboarded now — multi-currency, instant global payments, no monthly fee. Reach out to get yours opened.
InsightsHow Do Venture Studios Work? Idea to Spin-Out, Step by Step
How venture studios work in practice: idea sourcing, the kill funnel, the studio bench, cap table at spin-out, and what changes when the science is hard.
InsightsWhat Is a Venture Studio? Model, Economics, Deep Tech
A venture studio builds companies from scratch and takes equity for it. The model, the real equity ranges, the performance data, the deep-tech case.
Portfolio · EX IXA liquidity marketplace for the world's intellectual property: EX IX launches
EX IX has opened its patent liquidity marketplace to investors, with 24 patent families filed in its first production run and a pipeline of roughly 100 more validated and awaiting filing.
Available for advisory work, board seats and media appearances.
Julien Uhlig advises boards and funds and briefs newsrooms across Europe and North America. Enquiries are read personally.