Phlo, Part 2: Solving Deep Tech’s Broken Pipeline
This is Part 2 of our breakdown on why the deep tech startup model is fundamentally broken and what we’re doing about it.
In Part 1, we explored why 95% of deep tech ventures never make it past Series A, and how systemic inefficiencies, misaligned incentives, and outdated playbooks keep innovation trapped in the lab.
Now, meet Phlo, our blueprint for fixing it.
From business modeling to AI-powered research tools, here’s how we’re building the infrastructure deep tech founders actually need.
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Of course we weren’t going to simply point out the problems without proposing a practical solution. Where would be the fun in that?! The good news is, we do believe that there is a solution. The even better news is, we’re building it right now!
The mission is simple: Build a platform that can measurably increase the probability of success for deep tech startups. Obviously that’s easier said than done but we’re tackling this problem scientifically to ensure our approach not only works but works for edge cases, anomalies, disruptive technologies and all of the nuances that come with new innovations in deep tech.
Here’s our recipe:
Business Development
We address the biggest gap in research translation by providing a suite of tools tailored towards building an airtight business plan. No more fumbling your way through the process. We’ll tell you exactly what you need to walk into any investor meeting with the confidence to tackle the hard questions and help you get there.
Not just that, but we’re using cutting edge AI and automation to streamline the process for you. With Phlo you can develop your business plan in a matter of hours not weeks. Our data-driven approach ensures you always have up-to-date information at your fingertips and powerful tools for analysis to help you turn information into actionable insights.
With Phlo’s Business Development tools you can:
Conduct Market Research
Analyse and Segment Markets of Interest
Develop an Ideal Customer Persona (ICP)
Automatically Generate a CRM of Real Customers using your ICP
Automatically Identify Direct and Indirect Competitors
Conduct a Competitor Analysis
Use the Competitor Analysis to develop a Differentiation Strategy
Draft a Sales & Acquisition Strategy
Design your Business Model
Identify Key Assumptions and test them
Remix, Export and Share your Business Plan
Technology Development
We’ve also built a suite of tools tailored towards developing and de-risking your technology. Our AI-driven workflow will analyse your technology and identify key focus areas to help ensure your technology delivers what your customers want and need whilst remaining within the realms of technical and economic feasibility.
Phlo offers you the ability to run up to 10 individual literature reviews in parallel to help inform the direction of your research.
Not sure what host cell lines meet your requirements?
Unsure what efficiencies you need to achieve in order to keep unit costs down?
Scoping out which downstream processing methods are most suitable for your product?
We’ll help you answer all of those questions, as well as highlighting known unknowns so you can keep your priorities on track and not waste another dollar going down research rabbit holes.
Fundraising
Cars cannot accelerate without fuel. Similarly, research cannot be accelerated without funding. Phlo would not be a complete end-to-end solution if we didn’t offer support in identifying and securing funding to finance the R&D.
So not only will we help make your project fundable by developing and derisking the technology and business plan but, we’ll also help you put that project in front of the right people. AI will extract key details from your project and go out and identify the most promising funding opportunities suited to your specific needs — all while you sip your morning coffee with your feet up.
Full-Integration
As stated earlier, these outcomes in isolation are great, but for a startup to be successful, information needs to be cross-referenced, contradictions need to be reconciled and strategic decisions need to be made. Every piece of information needs to be woven into a central, coherent thread that can act as a guide rope through the stormy seas ahead.
That’s why we’ve also built ARI — the Artificial Research Intelligence. ARI remembers every piece of information you’ve collected, every decision you make and every analysis you conducted using Phlo. It helps you bring the most relevant information to light when you need it most so you can use it to build a successful business. From any screen within your project, you can pull up ARI and ask them questions about what you’re doing.
Maybe you’re running a competitor analysis and you want to understand if your technology truly performs better than your competitors? Maybe you’re working on your pitch deck and want to know how much technical detail to include? Perhaps you’re working on your marketing materials and want to know how to tailor it towards your ideal customer persona?
ARI can take information from multiple sources within your project to answer these questions, giving you a well-structured, synthesised answer with advanced reasoning. ARI is the cofounder you wish you had and they won’t cost you any equity.
Conclusion
We’re not fans of wordy conclusions so here’s a TLDR instead:
The Status Quo is Broken: Despite world-changing scientific advances, the systems supporting deep tech innovation are inefficient, inequitable, and often disconnected from the realities of commercial success.
Deep Tech Requires a New Playbook: Unique timelines, capital requirements, and regulatory hurdles mean deep tech ventures cannot rely on traditional startup advice. What works for SaaS doesn’t work for science.
Systemic Bias Limits Global Innovation: Success remains geographically and institutionally concentrated, sidelining talent and breakthroughs that exist outside of legacy hubs.
Tech Alone Isn’t Enough: Product-market fit, regulatory strategy, team composition, and business fundamentals are as essential as the invention itself. Yet most researchers are under-equipped to tackle these challenges alone.
We Need to Be Scientific About Building Businesses: The same rigor we apply to experiments must be applied to developing strategy, validating markets, and raising capital.
Phlo is Redefining Research Translation: Our platform empowers deep tech founders to build investable, scalable companies through tightly integrated tools for business development, technology derisking, and fundraising.
If you’re interested in what we’re building and want to be one of the first to try it out, you can sign up for early access here.
Join ValleyDAO!
ValleyDAO is leading the charge in decentralized science, and we invite you to join us in this groundbreaking journey. With $GROW tokens, you can get involved in funding research projects, gain exposure to the success of those projects, and have a voice in the future of DeSci. Whether you’re a researcher, enthusiast, or investor, there’s a place for you in our growing community.
As we continue to build, we remain committed to our mission: to fund and accelerate climate-focused biotech research, empowering scientists to develop real-world solutions for planetary health.