Deep tech / Success case
Getting a deep tech company ready for a $3M seed round
Narrative, investor deck and design. Round closed to fund the commercial phase.Client details are anonymised at the company’s request.
At a glance
Seed round closed
$3M
To fund the commercial phase.
- ScienceValidated
- TechnologyDe-risked
- $3M seedClosed
- First plantNext
What the round funds
The commercial phase
The first pilot and preparation for a commercial plant
The new deck
De-risking, deployment and economics first
The technology supports them
Client
Deep tech company with a proprietary process that converts textile waste into high-value materials
- Textile waste
- Circular materials
Scope
- Narrative
- Investor deck
- Deck design
The challenge: the deck and the stage
No investor interest to speak of, and a clear reason why.
The deck. A 40-page deck and business plan that walked through the technical process step by step. Investors read it as a research document.
The stage. At seed, deep tech investors look at de-risking, evidence of deployment and plant economics. Those needed to be the first ten slides.
The story: what’s proven, and what this round proves next
The new deck shows where the science started, what’s proven at what scale, and what this round proves next.
- Science validatedResults reproduced and independently verified.
- Technology de-riskedProof of concept validated at scale with an industrial partner.
- IP securedProvisional patent filed; process know-how protected as trade secrets.
- Economics confirmedA bankable model for a modular first plant.
- This round: $3M seedFunds the first pilot and preparation for a commercial plant.
- First commercial plant33,000 tonnes of textile waste processed a year.
- ScaleA fleet of modular plants by 2032.
De-risking, deployment and economics lead the deck. The technology supports them.
What we learned: why raising is hard for deep tech at seed
Deep tech founders raise against failures investors have already seen. Four come up again and again.
Interest gets read as demand
Big-name conversations are easy to collect. Investors remember a category pioneer bankrupt within two years.
The technology gets the airtime
Founders present what they know best. Investors are pricing what’s left to prove.
The round has no milestone
“We’re raising $3M” without “here’s what’s proven at the end of it” reads as a runway request.
The economics arrive too late
If capex and revenue per plant are on slide 30, investors assume the maths hasn’t been done.
What gets funded, and how the deck shows it
Three things get a deep tech company funded at seed. The deck puts each one up front.
A de-risking roadmap.
What’s proven today, at what scale, and what the round proves next, on one slide.
Economics up front.
Capex against revenue per plant and the business model, early in the deck rather than on slide 30.
Capital mapped to proof.
The round tied to what $3M proves: the first pilot and preparation for a commercial plant.
What we did: a deck built from the investor’s questions
We rebuilt the deck from the investor’s questions, and designed it to read well when forwarded.
Narrative
Reimagined around what investors fund
- Up frontDe-risking, deployment and economics
- In supportThe technology
Problem and market
Sized in numbers an investor can follow
- Textile waste
- Addressable market
- Beachhead
Team
Repositioned
Why these people are the ones who get a plant built
Results
- $3M seed round closed
- Funded the commercial phase
- A deck that leads with de-risking, deployment and economics, with the technology in support
The investor deck
$100Mraise at a $500M valuationGetting an integrated energy platform ready for a $100M raise at a $500M valuation
Rebrand in 7 daysVCs, strategics, family officesRead the story
$20Macquisition financingM&A support
2 acquisitions$1B revenue in 2020Read the story
Enterprise brand for an energy grid startup
Read the story
Flagship website for a carbon capture startup
Read the storyRaising for deep tech?
Waveup builds the narrative, the numbers and the deck.
