Ex-Speedinvest partner Rick Hao closes $50M solo GP fund for deeptech startups

Rick Hao, former partner at Speedinvest, closed a $50 million solo GP fund targeting deeptech startups globally, with particular focus on Europe and the UK. The fund backs companies in quantum computing, semiconductors, photonics, biotech, energy hardware, fusion, and autonomous systems. Hao brings a track record from Speedinvest, where he evaluated emerging deeptech rounds, and brings a "founder-first" philosophy to his new solo effort.

The fund makes check-size bets of £750k–9M (~$950k–11.4M) with a focus on 'frontier' and 'deep tech' sectors including semiconductors, robotics, autonomous systems, and advanced manufacturing. Hao is backing founders building defensible hardware innovations in Europe and the UK, where he sees persistent competitive advantage from scientific talent, lower operational costs versus the U.S., and government backing for hardware-scale ventures. His stated thesis is that European deeptech founders with strong IP/IP pipelines have been underfunded relative to their merit.

Hao's prior bets include founders in semiconductor design, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and autonomous mobility. The fund's composition reflects his conviction that pre-seed/seed deeptech founders with defensible moats (patents, trade secrets, structural cost advantages) will outperform generalist software plays over the next 5–10 years. His focus on European founders explicitly targets the geographic arbitrage where capital scarcity has left high-quality deeptech teams undercapitalized.

For practitioners, the emergence of sub-$5M solo GP funds targeting deeptech validates the thesis that hardware innovation cycles (longer than software) reward patient capital and domain expertise. Teams building custom silicon, advanced materials, or robotics should note the shift: geographic arbitrage on founder talent (especially in Europe) and longer grant-to-revenue cycles are becoming acceptable to emerging GP vehicles, distinct from the 3–5 year IRR pressure from larger VC generalists.