Sasha Vidiborskiy, Atomico: How to Think About Deep Tech Investing

In this episode of EUVC, host Andreas sits down with Sasha Wierboski, a partner at Atomico, to explore the nuances of deep tech investing in Europe. Sasha shares his journey from quantum physics research in Moldova to becoming a venture capitalist, emphasizing how his academic background shaped his investment philosophy centered on complexity, long-term R&D compounding, and the ability to simplify intricate scientific concepts for diverse stakeholders. He challenges the notion of deep tech as merely 'hard science,' defining it instead by the potential for research to create solutions 10 to 100 times better than existing alternatives and to build defensible, scalable advantages over time. Sasha stresses that deep tech founders must balance technical brilliance with commercial ambition, resilience, focus, and storytelling ability—especially given the 97% failure rate of such ventures. He also unpacks how Atomico’s institutional experience, trust-based decision-making, and rigorous pre-term sheet technical due diligence enable them to support high-risk, high-reward deep tech startups across compute supply chain, robotics, space, energy, and advanced materials. The conversation concludes with a deep dive into Lace Lithography, a company aiming to disrupt ASML’s monopoly in chip manufacturing by using atomic-scale lithography—a breakthrough Sasha calls a 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity with transformative potential for Europe’s tech sovereignty and global semiconductor supply chains.