Women Founders Leading The Way In Deep Tech, Climate, And Space

Over the years, the picture of a “female entrepreneur” that has been common in popular imagination was limited, in many cases, to lifestyle brands, fashion marketplaces, and consumer apps. Although these are important industries, a paradigm shift has been experienced in the global startup community due to women founders in deep tech, climate innovation, and other emerging sectors. A new generation of women entrepreneurs is pioneering in some of the most challenging scientific and most expensive sectors in the world—and beyond.

Starting with developing robots that can function on their own, alphabetical drug discovery, all the way to developing habitats for Mars, women are increasingly running companies in deep tech, climate innovation, and space tech. These women are not simply in pursuit of a unicorn; rather, they are re-writing the rules of entrepreneurship in that it not only addresses humanity’s greatest existential threats but also provides unprecedented profitability. This, of course, represents the emergence of a new form of “profit with purpose” entrepreneur, and how women are changing the face of purpose-driven tech startups.

The Deep Tech Revolution: Science Meets Scale

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Deep tech refers to innovations that are characterized by “significant scientific breakthroughs and a high threshold of entrance.” This domain of innovation has traditionally been a male-dominated domain but has now experienced a significant rise in women leaders, “many of whom transition from academia to entrepreneurship, indicative of a growing number of women founders in deep tech.” “Women leaders in deep tech and other emerging sectors are symbols of women in science and technology emerging as successful entrepreneurs.”

Alice Zhang – Verge Genomics

A great example of profit with purpose in action would be Alice Zhang, a co-founder of Verge Genomics. She became aware of how slow traditional drug development can be, and so she set out with her company that aims to apply artificial intelligence and human genomics in order to identify which drugs would be effective even before being tested. While it seems purely like a tech-based project, it has a human purpose in attempting to find a cure for ALS, Parkinson’s, among other diseases.

Sophie Cahen – Ganymed Robotics

Likewise, in the world of robotics, Sophie Cahen established Ganymed Robotics in France. Through her company, she aims to develop computer vision software for orthopedic surgeons with a goal of increasing access to safer surgeries. This initiative reflects profit and sustainability being pursued through women-led startups.

Funding Trends in Deep Tech

Recent evidence has reinforced this trend. In a report published in 2025 on Venture Capital in Europe in 2025, it was highlighted that, while women-led startups received lower amounts of investment overall, deep tech startups were a silver lining. “About 33% of total Venture Capital invested in female founders went to deep tech companies.” This shows that women, when building, are building in order to solve difficult hard-science problems and that women entrepreneurs are driving purpose-driven tech startups that are focused on aligning innovation with purpose.

Climate Innovation: Innovating for Survival

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Deep tech concerns “how,” but “why” concerns climate innovation. There appears to be a disproportionately high number of women founders in sustainability, resilience, and adaptation-related startups. Women founders are also no longer just limited to developing recycling apps but are now working on an industrial-scale solution, which further asserts that women founders in deep tech and climate innovation are a defining factor in the startup ecosystem.

Allison Dring – Made of Air

A perfect example of this would be Allison Dring, a co-founder of “Made of Air.” The company she founded not only reduces carbon emissions but also creates carbon-negative goods. They convert “waste biomass into thermoplastics that can be used in manufacturing.” This means that rather than merely cutting down their carbon emissions, her company’s goods absorb carbon, in other words, “remove it from the atmosphere.” This model of business means that every dollar of revenue translates to a cleaner planet, which perfectly showcases “profit with purpose.”

Elena Maksimovich – Weather Trade Net

Another prominent player in this domain is Elena Maksimovich, the founder of Weather Trade Net. The company employs traditional climate change risk analysis to make companies aware of how droughts, floods, and heat waves would affect their supply chain. This role of women entrepreneurs in developing purpose-driven tech startups for companies to survive in a climate change world that has now transitioned from a theoretical challenge to a practical challenge remains a commendable achievement.

Women-Led Climate Tech Focus

Studies show that female founders in climate tech are also taking a wider view than their male counterparts. The majority of female-founded climate startups are in “Adaptation and Resilience” A&R sectors, developing products that help people adapt to and coexist with a warming world, as opposed to solely attempting to mitigate it. This has been a reflection of burgeoning industries that are enabling women in science and tech to make a profit with a purpose.

The Final Frontier: Women in Space Tech

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Perhaps the most noticeable blurring of lines is occurring in the commercial space industry. This, of course, was until recently a world reserved for government institutions and “flyboys” with deep pockets, but now it seems that women are setting the agenda in the New Space economy as a reflection, rather than a destination, echoing the growing trend of female founders in deep tech innovation.

Barbara Belvisi – Interstellar Lab

Barbara Belvisi, founder of “Interstellar Lab,” represents the “profit with purpose” ideology in a perfect way. This company creates designs for closed-loop villages and bio-farming modules. Although these “biopods” are meant for sustaining life in the Moon and Mars, their immediate use would be on our very own “Spaceship Earth,” which faces desert conditions. However, Barbara has clearly ventured that “Spaceship Earth’s conditions are what drive innovations that are essential for surviving a changing Earth.” Thus, this company represents women in startups with profit as well as sustainability.

Neha Satak – Astrome Technologies

In India, Neha Satak co-founded a company named Astrome Technologies, which has a goal of providing high speed internet to villages in India through space. The issue she solves provides a great example of how women entrepreneurs are promoting purpose-driven tech start-ups that are applying space technology for development as well as profit.

These are just a few of the founders who are showing that space technology innovation goes beyond rocket technology. It also involves infrastructure, farming, and connectivity. They are among those in growing industries that are enabling women science and technology entrepreneurs to develop innovations for both Earth and Space that incorporate profit with purpose.

The “Profit with Purpose” Edge

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The thread that weaves all these different founders together is that in no way are they prepared to trade-off between profits and doing good. The traditional either/or choice would be running a not-for-profit to make a positive impact in the world, and a profit-driven company. These women are showing that in this new world, it’s those businesses that tackle the most significant problems that are going to be most valuable.

Investors are beginning to take notice. Deep tech and climate tech companies that are female-led are perceived to be more robust in that they are founded upon sound scientific principles, rather than merely being based upon a promise that has a tendency to be overhyped. “When the fundamental product offering of a startup is a carbon-negative material and a life-saving drug, then in essence, the ’purpose’ of that business becomes the product itself.” There isn’t a separate corporate “social responsibility” division in that, as with most other female-led startups that are mixing profit with purpose, their business model becomes their social responsibility, yet again proving how female-led profit with purpose startups are redefining capitalism.

Managing the Headwinds

Despite these many successes, the journey remains no easy feat. The divide in funding still remains a reality. In 2024, female-only founding teams accounted for a small percentage of total venture capital investments, around 2% of total investments in many markets. In deep tech, women-led startups that were at seed stage invested in lower amounts than those with male-only founding teams, yet women leaders in deep tech and climate innovation also continue to increase in number.

Despite this shortage, it has inculcated a sense of resilience. Women in this industry use their educational foundation to secure funds and collaborations with the government to fill this gap. For example, Interstellar Lab has managed to secure a partnership with NASA to test their technology, which in turn has enhanced their story of profit with a purpose, as women entrepreneurs are now setting a new trend in tech startups with a purpose.

The Road Ahead

The course has been set. With increasing global challenges in terms of climate change, diseases, and access to resources, it can only get busier for deep tech solutions. Women are placing themselves right at the forefront of this challenge with a demonstration of how women empowerment sectors of emerging technology can transform economies and societies through profit with purpose.

There will be an increasing number of “scientist-entrepreneurs”—women, straight from PhD programs and laboratories, taking over as CEOs. With role models like Alice Zhang and Barbara Belvisi, a certain momentum is accomplished, encouraging girls in STEM to use entrepreneurship as a platform for their scientific interests, a way to implement their ventures for profit as well as for sustainable development, with women at their helm.

A growing number of female founders in these new technology areas represents more than a diversity statistic; it represents a key strength for the world economy. They are hybridizing profit and purpose, creating businesses that are built to last, and realizing a future of technology that is as inclusive as it is innovative, unlocking the role of women entrepreneurs in shaping purpose-driven tech startups in deep tech, climate innovation, and space.