Seattle’s ‘Third Act’: VCs Say Local Superstars Are Deep-Tech Startups Building Rockets, Geothermal Plants and Autonomous Vehicles

Two Seattle venture capitalists argue that the city’s next wave of superstar startups are already here but focus on deep tech—intelligent machines and physical products like rockets, geothermal plants and autonomous off-road vehicles—rather than pure software. They frame this shift as Seattle’s "Third Act," building on maritime/aerospace roots (Act I) and the software/cloud boom (Act II) to combine hardware and software using local infrastructure and talent.

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