Venture capital has long avoided ‘hard’ sectors such as government, defence, energy, manufacturing, and hardware, viewing them as uninvestable because startups have limited scope to challenge incumbents. Instead, investors have prioritised fast-moving and lightly regulated software markets with lower barriers to entry.

End users in these hard industries have paid the price, as a lack of innovation funding has left them stuck with incumbent providers that continue to deliver clunky, unintuitive solutions that are difficult to migrate from. READ MORE