As 2025 draws to a close, the signals from deep tech are hard to miss. UK policy is shifting, sovereign resilience has moved from niche to necessity, quantum is edging into commercial deployment, and health technology is moving from pilots to real provision of care.
For this final issue of Capitalise in 2025, I asked members of our investment team to share one reflection from the year and one book that has stayed with them. The result is a snapshot of where they see momentum building, from Mansion House to humanoid robots, and a short reading list for curious founders, investors, and friends.
Below, you’ll hear from Anne, Nick, Amelia, Pierre, Manjari, Graham, and Susanne, followed by more news from across our portfolio and partners in Intelligence, Human, and Planet.
Dame Anne Glover, CEO and co-founder
“Earlier this year at Mansion House I called for a modest but meaningful shift: just 0.5% of UK pension assets into venture to strengthen the broken ladder between discovery and durable, listed companies at home. The good news is that UK politics have started to move in that direction – from Mansion House pension reforms and the Accord, which together aim to unlock tens of billions for UK private markets, to a Budget that makes it easier for founders to raise and hire under reformed EIS and EMI rules. The job now is to turn those signals into real allocations, so our entrepreneurs can scale here instead of looking abroad for the next rung.”
Book: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
“It’s a concise and timely reminder that democracies rarely fail overnight, they erode through small acts of complacency, and that citizens still have real agency in defending truth, institutions and the rule of law.”
Nick Kingsbury, Partner
“Sovereign Resilience and defence investing has come of age. We have seen some great businesses and there has been super interesting, curated deal flow from the likes of Nato/Diana, TechTour, Janus, and others. As a result, we have made investments in 3, and hopefully 4, companies in this important sector during 2025!”
Book: The Curious Case of Mike Lynch: The Improbable Life & Death of a Tech Billionaire by Katie Prescott
“A salutary and ultimately tragic story, but with many lessons of how tech businesses can operate, both the rights and wrongs. What cannot be denied is that Mike Lynch was a hugely ambitious mover-and-shaker, and did create some incredible tech businesses. Let’s copy the ambition and also make sure we have learnt the lessons!”
Amelia Armour, Partner
“This year’s Autumn Budget quietly turned tax policy into real runway for founders. By expanding the room in EIS, VCT and EMI and keeping more growing companies inside those schemes for longer, it gives UK startups and scaleups a bit more freedom to raise, hire, and stay here as they hit genuine scale, rather than being pushed to overseas investors and needing to redesign their share option plans as they accelerate hiring.”
Book: Bounce by Matthew Syed
“I use the core message everyday – the more you practice, the better you get.”
Pierre Socha, Partner
“Across the portfolio, the story in 2025 has been health technology moving from pilots to provision of care. OrganOx’s sale to Terumo for $1.5 billion, Quibim’s AI deployed across NHS hospitals, Ori Biotech’s platform recognised by the FDA, and Constructive Bio’s advances in sustainable peptide manufacturing and synthetic genomes aren’t just good headlines – they’re early proof that deep science companies can reshape how we diagnose, treat and manufacture at system scale.”
Book: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
“To the founder, ask yourself: what is my equivalent of Roark’s core principle? Where is compromise actually existential? Where am I being a little like Keating—optimising for perception over substance? Who in my world plays the roles of Wynand, Toohey, and Dominique? How much power am I giving them over my decisions? Am I preserving enough Roark‑like integrity in the product, while still being flexible in execution? Used as a mirror rather than a manual, the book can be a good tool for clarifying your own philosophy about building and leading a company.
To everyone else: great read, good stocking filler!”
Manjari Chandran-Ramesh, Partner
“During the International Year of Quantum we saw each region trying to outdo itself on Quantum events but more importantly, the landscape has moved more clearly into the early commercial deployment phase, which is exciting. Robotics has been around for long but not seen the adoption and interestingly, humanoids dominated the headlines in 2025! However, the form factor of quadrupeds and wheeled robots feel necessary and sufficient for several real-world problems – far more stable and adaptable across mixed terrain than humanoids. This means many of the most capable robots of the next decade needn’t look human at all, whether they’re helping keep your house tidy or used in hazardous industrial settings.”
Book: Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr and Peter Ziebelman
“My Kauffman network is introducing me to more books than I normally read in venture or business, and one such book is Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr and Peter Ziebelman. This really spoke to me as it’s a similar take to Amadeus’ own approach of building conviction before consensus.”
Graham O’Keeffe, Partner
“Great to see the continued progress in the European Deep Tech ecosystem with significant numbers of new financings, unicorn valuations, and exits, as well as tremendous technical and commerical progress across the many sub-sectors. It’s worth also remembering the quote attributed to Sir Isaac Newton “If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants” – the progress we have seen is nothing compared to what we will see.”
Book: Address Unknown by Kressmann Taylor
“The shortest book I’ve read with the greatest impact.”
Thank you for reading Capitalise this year, and for the conversations, collaboration, and trust that sit behind the headlines.
We hope you find time over the holidays to pick up at least one of the books above, and to recharge for the opportunities ahead. From all of us at Amadeus, we wish you a restful festive season and a sharp, ambitious start to 2026, as we continue creating value by backing trailblazers solving hard problems in large markets.
Read on for more news from our portfolio and partners across Intelligence, Human, and Planet this month.
Intelligence
Nu Quantum raises $60m Series A. The largest UK quantum Series A to date will support Carmen and the team in making quantum networking a reality via Entanglement Fabric. Read the press release.
PolyAI raises $86m Series D at $750m valuation. Surpassing $200m in total funding to power helpful, lifelike automated conversations using voice and agentic AI. Read the blog.
From Galashiels to global chip leader. We sat down with serial exited entrepreneur and investor Stan Boland to chat about his success in deep tech, including his first chip business bought by Broadcom for $640m after just $13m of venture funding. Watch the interview.
Three in Sifted’s AI 100 with PolyAI at number six. PolyAI, V7 and UnlikelyAI are recognised, and Amadeus appears in Sifted’s Top 100 Investors.
Read the report.
Amelia’s picks in Sifted’s 16 UK AI startups to watch. Amadeus Partner Amelia Armour highlights Cascade and Trismik as ones to watch, with 38 UK companies in the AI 100. Read the feature.
Skycore Semiconductors raises €5m. We led the round through the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund to help power AI data centres as they move from 54V to 800V HVDC. Learn more.
Quantum needs scale not slogans. Manjari Chandran Ramesh in Foresight on the gap in large growth rounds and why corporate pilots unlock real demand. Read the piece.
Riverlane QEC Report 2025. QEC becomes the priority, public commitments reach about $50bn and the market is forecast to grow about 24 percent a year to 2030. Read the report.
Human
The Guardian spotlights a UK life sciences reset. Patrick Vallance said officials are working day and night to resolve the NHS drug pricing standoff and rebuild trust with pharma. Amadeus CEO, Dame Anne Glover added that even a half percent of UK pension assets into venture would transform the market. Read the piece.
Investing in the future of life sciences. Dame Anne joined a fireside on spotting high potential science, de risking early innovation, and attracting capital at seed and Series A, with a keynote from Constructive Bio’s Prof Jason Chin. See the recap.
Deploying AI at scale in European healthcare. Partner Pierre Socha shares a practical playbook for founders focused on augmentation, interoperability, trust and outcomes to move from pilot to repeatable value. Read the blog.
Planet
Xampla heads to Asia with DIC Group. Xampla is collaborating with DIC Group to bring its PFAS- and plastic-free Morro™ Coatings to Japan and wider Asian markets. Read the press release.
Sovereign resilience is a software and systems brief. Defence now spans AI, cybersecurity, cloud, edge and energy — with programmes like NSSIF and the NATO Innovation Fund opening clearer routes to market. Amadeus Partner Nick Kingsbury explains what sovereign resilience is, why it matters now, and how founders and investors can engage responsibly. Read the piece.
Sustainable packaging needs deep tech not slogans. Partner Amelia Armour argues for materials engineered to biodegrade like Xampla’s Morro™ as a drop-in replacement film already rolling out with major partners. The winners will match performance and economics while staying invisible to the end user. Read the piece.
News from the team
Europe has ideas but needs the infrastructure to scale them. Amadeus Partner Manjari Chandran Ramesh in EE Times Europe argues the issue is not ambition but late-stage capital, weaker public markets and too few industrial buyers. Pragmatic exits remain the default while we strengthen the system. Read the article.
Amadeus recognised among the top 15 UK deep tech investors. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s State of UK Deep Tech 2025 names Amadeus in the top 15. The report highlights a late stage funding gap, the role of US capital at growth, and the need for patient capital and procurement that buys innovation—and a quote from CEO. Download the report.