EU Regulations Are Driving the Deep Tech Deals This Week

Added: 2026-04-30

[00:00:00]People love to hate on regulations, but regulations this week are literally driving the early-stage deals in conscious.co. Don't get me wrong, there's certainly a risk when it comes to funding something that is purely driven on regulation because this can of course be subject to change. But if we take a look at what's going on in Europe this week, it's literally creating the market. So first we have Vrea, which built its entire product on Germany's new 42b EnWG framework. This is a 2024 amendments to Germany's Energy Industry Act. It creates a new category, shared building supply. Before this rule, landlords who wanted to supply power to tenants had to register as full energy suppliers. This is of course a regulatory and operational nightmare. So the new framework lets them deliver rooftop solar directly to tenants without that licensing burden. Without 42b, Vrea's product literally would not have a market. Next we have Nature Beads. This is well positioned for the 2027 EU microplastics ban. This is going to be a phased restriction adopted under the EU's REACH regulation in 2023. So cosmetics, paint, and detergent manufacturers across the EU will need a drop-in replacement before that deadline hits. Nature Beads cellulose microspheres are exactly that replacement. And last we have Rivian.

[00:01:27]They benefit from the EU mandates pushing industrial decarbonization. This is primarily under the EU Emissions Trading System, which puts a rising carbon price on heavy industry. And there's also the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, CBAM, which extends that price to imports starting full implementation in 2026 this year.

[00:01:47]Combined, they make fossil natural gas progressively more expensive. This is for steel, glass, ceramics, and chemical producers, and that creates a growing premium for renewable molecules like Rivian's gas. So in this case, what we're seeing in conscious.co this week for early-stage deep tech is that regulation is no longer a headwind, but it's literally the wedge that is creating the market. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments about regulation when it comes to climate, and you can get all the weekly deep tech intel at conscious.co.