Changing perspectives is a good thing. In order to make better decisions, it is helpful to look at a topic from different perspectives. True to the motto “walk a mile in my shoes”.
Will Wells can do that. CV: In 2016, the Brit founded Hummingbird Technologies, a platform that used drones, satellites and AI to analyze the condition of fields – with the aim of reducing chemical use and increasing yields. An AgTech AI startup.
After exiting to the Danish startup Agreena, Wells switched to the investor side and initially led deep tech and frontier tech investments at Firstminute Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners before joining Speedinvest as a partner in October 2025 to build up the deep tech division there.
He is looking for: critical infrastructure of the future
There he is now looking at startups that deal with “frontier” topics such as AI, defense, energy, space travel and robotics, said the investor in an interview with Gründerszene. More specifically: European founders working on sovereign computing infrastructure, defense, energy resilience, biosecurity and the “picks and shovels” of the next decades. That's what he calls it. So on the critical infrastructure for future waves of technology.
Founder scene: Will, you invest in complex deep tech topics that are still in their early stages and that many people don't really understand. It's not impossible to know who the eventual winners will be will be?
Will Wells: So it's not easy, even if it always seems that way in retrospect. The truth is: There is no magic formula. Those who relied heavily on foundation models very early on and supported companies like Mistral or Anthropic have now been confirmed – but at the beginning it was by no means obvious unless you were super deep into AI research. But what you can do: I always try to start from “inevitable truths”.
What does that mean?
Will Wells: For example, we know that there is an energy transition. Or that Europe needs to strengthen its defense, that robotics will save industry, that AI applications are increasing and this requires infrastructure and that Europe needs sovereign champions. So in all of these fields we look for the best possible teams and give them as much capital as they need to scale.
Is there a particular type of deep tech founder that continues to impress you?
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/top-investor-meint-die-besten-gruender-kommen-aus-einer-startup-mafia/
