Dear all,

Imagine entering an 18th-century workshop where a handful of workers spend their days making pins. None could craft a pin alone with any speed, yet together they produce thousands every day: one draws the wire, another cuts it, a third sharpens the tip, and a fourth attaches the head. This scene, described by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, reveals a powerful idea: the division of labour. By breaking production into distinct steps, Smith shifted our mental models. Nearly two centuries later, Michael Porter extended this logic to entire industries with his concept of value chains, moving the focus from tasks inside a single workshop to entire industries spread across the globe.

Nowhere is this logic clearer than in semiconductors. A single chip is not the product of one firm, but of a global web of specialists: raw-material suppliers refine silicon, equipment makers build billion-euro lithography machines, designers draft chip architectures, foundries etch them onto wafers, and packaging firms prepare them for cars, robots, or data centres. This concept of value chains is vital for Europe. If we master emerging Deep Tech chains and build trust across them, we can strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty.

Defence shows why thinking in industry value chains matters. For decades, military power rested on a few expensive platforms—tanks, fighter jets, ships—developed over many years. Today, that logic is breaking down: a €8–10 million Leopard 2 tank can be destroyed by a drone costing tens of thousands of euros. This shift is reshaping the drone and air-defence value chain, from detection with radar, infrared, and acoustic sensors, to AI software that fuses data and triggers countermeasures such as jamming, lasers, or kinetic interceptors. Modern air defence is no longer a single weapon system, but a fast, software-led value chain where speed and cost-per-effect matter more than brute force. 

To identify value chains like these that matter for European Deep Tech, we have led 100+ conversations, crunched the numbers on CVC and VC deals as well as the number of active startups, and currently land on the following key value chains for European Deep Tech:

Manufacturing Tech & Robotics

High Performance Computing

Advanced Materials

Defence

Space

Energy

There are more critical value chains than those listed here—but in these, Europe has a real chance to build critical mass and technology leadership. Success will not be decided by a single company or flagship projects, but by whether we manage to align founders, operators, corporates, and capital along shared industry value chains. 

If we have missed important value chains, or if you know a founder or C-level executive who belongs on our stage, write to us. Our “Titans of Europe” keynotes at DTM26 bring the continent’s leading founders and corporate leaders together.

To a week of building and funding the value chains that matter,
Martin

→ Some of the drilling concepts Hades is working on originate from technologies originally explored for space and fusion research, now repurposed for Earth’s subsurface.

→ BIOWEG is built as a startup–research co-development with TU Berlin acting as a built-in validation engine from day one.

→ Europe is a major importer of ZnO — Catalyco’s pitch is effectively “local ZnO supply from waste.”

→ Beholder’s AI integrates over dozens of data sources across hundreds of models, achieving up to ~96 % predictive accuracy in generating mineral prospect maps.

Two years in the making, the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act marked Europe’s wake-up call: without domestic access to lithium, rare earths and cobalt, there is no energy transition — and no strategic autonomy. Contributing to this effort was Kerstin Jorna, DG GROW Director-General, who is, by the way, a confirmed speaker for DTM26 in Berlin. 

So, action is needed and coming well along: The second call for strategic projects under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) closed in January 2026 with over 160 applications. Applications span most CRMA-listed materials, including 75 battery-related projects and 21 focused on rare earths. 

Building on the first round, the process reinforces the CRMA’s central role in securing resilient and diversified supply chains for Europe’s energy, digital and defence sectors.

But as there is a lot of movement, there’s also a long way to go left: Earlier this month, the European Court of Auditors released its Special Report 04/2026 “Critical raw materials for the energy transition – Not a rock-solid policy”. 

Here are the five most important takeaways:

The signal couldn’t be clearer: We received over 1,400 applications for just 250 spots for SPARTA, our first-ever Defence Innovation Summit at the MSC. This made SPARTA one of the most in-demand Deep Tech gatherings we’ve ever hosted.

Today, we’re boots on the ground in Munich. Our goal: trigger 100+ new commercial collaborations in a single afternoon. We’ll be back next week with a distilled recap of the quantifiable impact in the room.

We are pairing stakeholders directly with technologies that solve specific capability gaps through curated 1:1 matching. The ecosystem includes:

This is exactly the energy DTM was built for. SPARTA isn’t a one-off—it’s a preview of what’s coming. This momentum flows directly into our flagship event in Berlin. If today is any indication, Deep Tech Momentum 2026 will be bigger, sharper, and more competitive than ever.

➔ Tickets are now available. If you want to be in for DTM.Defence this May, now is the moment to lock it in.

As part of our ecosystem perks, Rasmus Rothe is hosting a mentoring session on AI company building for potential founders.

Rasmus is Co-Founder & General Partner of Merantix Capital, a Berlin-based venture capital firm and a unit of Merantix, a group of companies and initiatives driving AI forward in Europe. Rasmus has spent years translating cutting-edge AI and computer vision research into real companies across healthcare, industry and defence-adjacent domains.

Beyond company building, Rasmus plays a central role in shaping Europe’s AI landscape. He is a founding member of the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband) and was elected Chairman of the Board in 2025, operating at the intersection of technology and policy.

Are you seeking an expert who truly understands the mechanics and implications of AI?

Join Rasmus for an info session on the most compelling AI use cases emerging right now, and where real value is being created. He’ll share how the Merantix Capital venture studio turns these opportunities into venture-scale companies alongside exceptional founders with domain expertise across industries.

➔ Reply to this email with “AI” to be part of the session. Capacity is limited to 10 participants to keep the atmosphere deliberately small, productive, and informal.

Last Week’s Winner: Congratulations to John Mulford, who won a copy of the book Measure What Matters.