Harry Destecroix

Harry Destecroix is a British scientist, entrepreneur and investor based in Bristol. While completing his PhD at the University of Bristol he founded Ziylo in 2014, a smart-insulin startup. He was its CEO until Novo Nordisk acquired it in 2018. Crunchbase, citing Forbes, says the deal was potentially worth $800 million. After the sale he co-founded Carbometrics, a glucose-sensing company built on Ziylo's technology.

In 2015 he founded Science Creates, a deep tech incubator ecosystem in Bristol. The first incubator opened in 2017 and a second in 2021. In June 2023 it launched an engineering biology accelerator with UKRI and set up the Science Creates Outreach charity. UKRI also notes that a third incubator began construction in 2025.

He is a member of the Innovate UK Council and was named 2023 Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year. UKRI reports he was awarded an MBE in 2025 for services to science and entrepreneurship.

Destecroix began angel investing after the Ziylo exit in 2018, backing early deep tech startups and university spinouts. He met SCVC co-founder Jon Craton, the founder of Cramer Systems, through angel investing. Crunchbase lists one personal investment, an angel round in Rosa Biotech, and the date is not public. Since 2020 most of his investing has gone through SCVC. He sits on the boards of a number of SCVC portfolio companies, according to the Merchant Venturers.

No personal AI angel investments are publicly documented. SCVC's stated focus is the intersection of biology, hardware and AI. In 2023 Destecroix said the gap between hardware and biology is closing and, combined with AI, creates a major opportunity for new technology companies. John Williams joined SCVC in 2023. He is an AI deep tech founder who co-founded Kudan and, as CTO, took it to an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

SCVC invests in advanced technologies that improve human health and the environment, from biotech to quantum tech, semiconductors and AI. It works mostly with highly technical founders, including PhDs and professors, and tends to lead rounds.

For its second fund, announced at first close in September 2023 with a target of up to $100 million, SCVC said it would invest at pre-seed and seed. Initial cheques are $500k to $3 million, with follow-on tickets of up to $7 million for top performers. These are firm-level figures. No personal angel cheque size is public. The firm is based in Bristol and describes itself as a national deep tech VC.

• Rosa Biotech: angel round listed on Crunchbase as Destecroix's personal investment; date not public.
• Ziylo: smart-insulin startup he founded in 2014 and led as CEO until the 2018 Novo Nordisk acquisition.
• Carbometrics: glucose-sensing company he co-founded, using Ziylo technology.
• Delta g (SCVC): quantum gravity sensors.
• Isomab (SCVC): pre-clinical biotech developing a treatment for Peripheral Vascular Disease.
• Scarlet Therapeutics (SCVC): early-stage therapeutics company backed by SCVC.
• VyperCore (SCVC): RISC-V processor startup, the second fund's first investment.
• Houdini Bio (SCVC): pre-seed round led by SCVC, per Crunchbase.

• crunchbase.com/person/harry-destecroix-02f0
• ukri.org/people/harry-destecroix
• techspark.co/blog/2023/09/14/scvc-fund-for-deep-tech
• tech.eu/2023/09/14/scvcs-new-fund-to-propel-pre-seed-and-seed-stage-te
• siliconcanals.com/scvc-93m-fund
• merchantventurers.com/author/harrydestecroix
• x.com/h_destecroix?lang=en
• x.com/ScienceCreates/status/1719380820538937802