Chemistry start-ups hot in Paris

It might not have been obvious from the exhibition floor at the vast Centquatre-Paris center last month, but Europe’s innovation ecosystem is wobbling. Exciting chemistry-based technologies seemed to fill every corner of Hello Tomorrow’s Global Summit. But the breadth of emerging technology on display there obscured the fact that the exhibitors were all after funding to help them succeed. Outside of the event itself, with its €100,000 ($110,000) prize, European funding opportunities for these firms are drying up. European investment in deep-tech start-ups—companies that are developing solutions to substantial scientific or engineering problems— totaled $16.3 billion in 2024 , a drop of 28% compared with 2021, according to a report released during the event by Hello Tomorrow and its partners Dealroom, Lakestar, and Walden Catalyst. Europe has the potential to be a global deep-tech hub, with six of the world’s top 20 research universities and nine of the top 25