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title: Had any Deep Thoughts about deep tech?
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What's happening in deep tech, brought together in this month's Deep Thoughts

| View in browser issue #9 Hey folks,   Hope everyone’s had an enjoyable summer all things considered. Wanted to start this issue of Deep Thoughts by introducing the newest members of the Deep Tech team at Octopus Ventures: Caitlin Wale and Mason Sinclair. With a background in sustainable energy and data centre solutions, Caitlin geeks out on low carbon innovations creating a positive impact. Mason has a background in biomedical and electrical engineering and joins us after recently completing his MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School. You will be hearing more from them in the coming months 😊   I’ve spent the last few quarters digging into the gaming industry. A lot's been going on - from the Epic vs. Apple debate to Unity’s long-awaited IPO - but much has been going on with early stage businesses as well. I covered some of the trends in my write-up here and I’d love to hear from anyone with strong views or challenges to any of the assumptions made.   On another note, we want to highlight our most recent investment in ThoughtRiver, which is a legaltech startup that’s applying AI to speed up contract pre-screening. They’ve created an ontology of contract legal logic, couched as a series of detailed questions which, combined with its NLP engine, enables its software to pre-screen contracts by generating a risk assessment. We’ve seen a lot of legaltech startups over the years and it’s testament to the team and the product that we have partnered with ThoughtRiver!       This month we’ve been: Reading our friend Mina’s great blogpost setting out a guide to licensing in deeptech. Agreeing with Michael Dempsey’s thoughts on seeing more use of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and their use in deep tech where funding is being driven by narrative more than metrics and wondering how this trend might follow in Europe. Listening to SOSV’s podcast on the opportunities in robotics particularly when some of the biggest wins were made during the last recession. Loving the sound of a knowledge graph so dense it actually understands everything you are asking it and can usefully provide an answer! Intrigued how ML could be the answer to all the server-caused carbon emission after all. Convinced that in the world of online, offline will not be completely lost. Pumped that next generation is about developers, developers and developers. Relieved that AI is not replacing humans, rather humans are augmenting it. Mesmerized to see Hurricane Laura this close and in full force. Elated by the UK Gov’s space flight regulations take-off, as welcomed by UKspace.         And on a final note, this will be my last email to the Deep Thoughts community as a member of Octopus’ Deep Tech team. I will be joining our newly formed Consumer pod investing in founders that reimagine the way we live, work, travel, play and recuperate. It’s been an honour to be a Deep Thoughts contributor and to see the community grow to where it is today. I look forward to now being on the other side as a Deep Thoughts subscriber! Don’t be a stranger and feel free to email me with anything consumer/future of work related.   Best, Karan karan@octopusventures.com          Deep Thoughts: The Archive If this is your first Deep Thoughts experience, you may want to catch up on what you've missed: issue #8 \| issue #7 \| issue #6 \| issue #5 \| issue #4 \| issue #3 \| issue #2 \| issue #1   If this newsletter was forwarded to you, please sign up to receive the newsletter yourself here. Octopus Ventures helps pioneers change the world. Unsubscribe |
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