Ruya Ventures Closes $50M DeepTech Fund

Jan de Vries · 2026-07-01

London-based Ruya Ventures, a solo GP venture capital firm founded by DeepTech investor Rick Hao, just closed a $50 million fund for its first VC fund. The money's all about helping global DeepTech innovations move from the lab into the real world. The fund hit its final close in less than a year and was actually oversubscribed. That means investors were lining up to get in. ### Why DeepTech Startups Fail Rick Hao, founder and solo GP of Ruya Ventures, puts it simply: "DeepTech is a marathon not a sprint. Any successful founder in the space will tell you that getting out of the lab is not the hardest part of the journey. Yes, timelines are lengthy and capital requirements hefty but DeepTech failures are not down to the science being wrong." He adds: "Most DeepTech companies stall because no one helps founders figure out how to cross the chasm between a working prototype and a product that can be manufactured at scale and adopted by the market." That's a big insight. The science is often solid. The problem is the gap between a prototype and something you can actually sell at scale. ### The Bigger Picture in 2026 Ruya Ventures' first fund close comes at a time when capital is flowing into DeepTech and related areas like semiconductors, robotics, physical AI, and quantum computing. Here are some recent rounds that show the trend: - Openchip (Barcelona) – $122 million for AI and high-performance computing chips - Invisix (Eindhoven) – $21 million Seed round for semiconductor metrology - THEKER (Barcelona) – $78 million Series A for AI robotics deployment - QuantWare – $162 million Series B (quantum computing) - Quobly – $122 million Series A (quantum) - eleQtron – $61 million Series A (quantum) Across these 2026 rounds, total funding hits about $1.87 billion, or roughly $584 million if you exclude NEURA Robotics' "up to $1.28 billion" Series C. Big numbers, but they show the market's hungry for this stuff. Rick Hao previously appeared in EU-Startups coverage as a Speedinvest partner, tied to DeepTech startup Astral Systems' 2025 funding round. ### A Global Approach "DeepTech (and the supply chains that underpin it) is an inherently global game. A European lens alone is not sufficient. That is why Ruya Ventures is rooted in Europe but deliberately built with a network that spans Europe, the US, and Asia," Rick says. Founded in 2025, Ruya Ventures plans to build a portfolio of 20 DeepTech companies worldwide. They're backing frontier technologies that tackle meaningful but tough problems. Their focus is on targeted tech value chains where they've built conviction through academic research networks, past investments, and commercialization experience. ### Sectors They're Targeting Instead of casting a wide net, Ruya Ventures is zeroing in on specific sectors: - AI - Batteries - Robotics - Semiconductors - Materials science - Novel computing ### Already Deploying Capital The firm's already putting money to work. Their first investments include: - WLF Energy – developing energy infrastructure from generation to grid - MegaCool – building cooling hardware for modern compute needs - Three additional stealth-mode startups in AI, robotics, and semiconductors ### Day-Zero Support As a day-zero fund and long-term strategic partner, Ruya Ventures aims to support founders from their first financing round, and in many cases, even before incorporation. Through their networks across Asia, they also help with commercialization, manufacturing, supply chain development, and international expansion. "We are interested in the work that happens after the check is written that closes that gap. It's the commercialization, the manufacturing strategy, the global network that most early-stage investors are not set up to do well," Rick says. ### Why Europe Needs This Europe has a strong research base, but many startups in this space need access to manufacturing partners, global customers, specialist infrastructure, and cross-border capital networks. Ruya Ventures' model is designed to connect founders with this broader ecosystem from day one.