The term „hypersonic“ is usually used for any object that moves through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) or roughly 6000 km/h. This speed regime is separated from others because unique physical effects - especially immense heating - arise and complicate any engineering work done for vehicles moving at such velocities. Recently, the topic has gained increasing attention due to its relevance for defence applications. Hypersonica was founded in 2023 to develop hypersonic vehicles to enhance European resilience and sovereignty in the space and defence sector. The founders shared their insights about deep tech opportunities, value-driven defence technology development and the most interesting engineering problem in aerospace history. Dr. Marc Ewenz Rocher is originally from the Cologne/Bonn area in western Germany. After graduating from high school his deep fascination for aerospace led him to Imperial College London, where he pursued and successfully completed an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering. He then moved on to Oxford University and completed a PhD in Hypersonics, where he focused on active cooling methods and their potential to mitigate material degradation during hypersonic flight. In his spare time, Marc led the St. Edmund Hall college rowing team to win multiple prestigious regattas. After a short postdoc funded by DARPA, he spent a year at the management consulting firm Bain & Company before co-founding Hypersonica together with Dr. Philipp Kerth.