Rick Hao Closes $50M Solo GP Debut Fund to Back Europe's Deep Tech

When I started Ruya Ventures, I was not looking for the easiest path into venture capital. I was looking for the right one.

I have been investing in deep tech for more than a decade - through cycles when the category was unfashionable, when the timelines felt too long and the capital requirements too heavy for most investors to stomach. Those years were clarifying. They taught me something that every experienced deep tech investor eventually learns: the science is rarely the problem.

Speaking to Sifted this week, I put it this way: "Most deep tech companies stall because no one helps founders figure out how to cross the chasm between a working prototype and a product that can be manufactured at scale and adopted by the market. The real work begins after the cheque is written - the commercialisation, the manufacturing strategy, the global network - that most early-stage investors are not set up to do well."

That belief is the foundation Ruya was built on.

Europe's deep tech ecosystem is at an inflection point. The science coming out of its universities and research institutions is world-class. The problems they are working on (in batteries, semiconductors, AI, robotics, novel computing, and materials science) are among the most consequential of our time. And yet too many of these companies stall not because the technology fails, but because no one is there to help them cross the gap between the lab and a product the world can actually use.

That gap is where Ruya operates.

We launched in October 2025. In less than a year, we raised a $50M fund, closed oversubscribed, and turned away additional LP capital to stay true to our strategy: a focused portfolio, backed with genuine depth, from the very first day. We have already deployed into five companies across our core sectors. We invest early, often before a company is incorporated, and we stay close through the transitions that matter most: from research to pilot, from pilot to production, from a European base to global markets.

In April 2026, while still operating in stealth, Ruya Ventures was named Newcomer of the Year by EUVC, judged by some of Europe's most respected investors. It was recognition that the approach we had been quietly building was already making a mark.

To every LP who has trusted us (with a special thanks to Aldea Ventures, who wrote the very first cheque), to every founder who has chosen us, and to everyone who has been part of this journey: thank you. Deep tech is a long game. We are only at the start of it.

Read the full Ruya Ventures story in Sifted.